Forgotton Promises
by BLueANgels12
Summary: Through unknown reasons, Ed has lost all of his memory and forgotten everyone except Al. And coming back to Amestris Doesn't help either. Now, with a returning villain from Earth coming into Amestris seeking power, the Elric Brothers aren't out of the clear yet as they must stop this guy before he can start another world war. Post CoS with AU bits from Brotherhood and EdxWin fluff
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist, if I did, I wouldn't have ended the main series like it did. Oh well, that's what Fanfic is for.**

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"Do it Ed!" Al Screamed to his brother, now around 20 feet from the younger sibling.

"I got it, I got it!" Ed yelled back as he gained a running start to throw the grenade. The grenade took a wide ark as it soared through the air and landed on a perch next to the now opened portal to their world. '_Just 4 seconds left!' _Ed thought to himself as he waited for the detonation.

It's has been nearly 3 years since he and his brother had come to this world and he already wished he can go back, but he had a job to finish and he was going to see it through.

Just as the grenade went off, a load and deep voice from somewhere behind Ed had screamed,

"NO!" then the room went white.

Ed opened his eyes and what he saw wasn't the warehouse he was just in. No, instead what stood in front of him was the Doors of Truth with the ever so familiar White figure sitting with one leg propped up, smiling like the Cheshire Cat he so much resembles.

"Congratulations!" The Truth said, not breaking the smile on his face. "You held up your end of the deal, now it is my turn to help you out."

"What? What are you talking about? What Deal?" Ed said as a face of confusion ran across his face.

"You destroyed the last forbidden Portal, now the two worlds will never be able to interact again."the truth said nonchalantly, as if it was common knowledge.

"Right, so mind explaining why I'm here again?" Ed said his temper on his last nerve. He was almost ready to punch the truth's stupid grin off his face, even though that might make his situation worse he was thinking it was still worth it.

"Now that all portals to your world are vanquished, I have a little surprise for you and your brother." The Truth said, his grin seeming to get even bigger. It was sort of creepy to Ed but he sure as hell wasn't going to show any form of weakness, especially to the only form close to God himself, instead he decide to divert his eyesight to the door behind the truth with its many runes and symbols embedded into it. "You're going back! Aren't I just the greatest?"

Ed looked at him puzzled, what did he mean back? Back to that hellhole of a world, still in the midst of a war and having Ed and Al in the middle of it? No thanks.

As if on cue, Truth looked (or what seemed like looking since he/she/it had no eyes) directly into Ed's face and said, " No, not that world, why would I send you back there when there's no need for you to be there? No silly, you're going back to your own world!"

Ed looked back at him in amazement. He had to admit, he was happy, but also dreading the idea of going back as he thought of all the friends he had left behind on his own will, not to mention _her_. However, Ed decided to face the music, So to speak.

"fine." He said with a bit of bitterness in his voice, "I just want to forget all about that hellhole of a world, I've had enough."

The Truth's smile grew ten times the size it used to be. "I thought you might say something like that, very well I'll bring you back just remember to be careful what you wish for." The Truth said, not braking the smiling.

The Doors of Truth began to open pouring in a sea of white light into Ed's eyes. He could feel his consciousness slowly slipping into a deep sleep and soon, he was out cold.

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**A/N: whelp, that's the prologue to this story. Granted it's my first story so I would really like all the feedback I can get. I know the Prologue is a bit short but bear with it, it'll get much larger as the story goes on. So please Write a review and tell me what you think and how I can improve the story. I'll accept any ideas that might sound great. Next chapter introduces Winry action ^_^.**


	2. Chapter 1: Unnatural Rendezvous

**A/N: WOOH! One Follower! Thank you so much ****_Coudy19_****for following the story. I will try my best to live up to that. Now some thing I should mention before I write anymore. This Fan Fic will contain the story plot from the original FMA but will involve some themes and backstory from Brotherhood, hence why I had the Truth figure in the prologue as it helps explain how Ed and Al get back to Amestris. **

**Credit to Melani Sie for the awesome cover, which is just perfect. .**

**Disclaimer: Again, I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist, but I am a huge fan of the series.**

**Now back to the story!**

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"WINRY! Get up! You have to finish these 3 orders today! It's already 12:30!"

Granny Pinako screamed up the stairs, tapping her foot angrily. The tiny woman was not up to playing babysitter for the 18 year old, she should be capable of getting up early for god sakes! "Bah" she said waving off the problem and continuing with making afternoon lunch. 'let her sleep in for a little bit more' she thought to herself 'she's the best damn automail mechanic in the town and if anyone can get the job done in time, she can.

Winry, on the other hand, was not up to working today. She would continue to lie in her bed with her arm over her forehead, staring at the ceiling fan slowly spin in never ending circles. She let out a soft groan and proceeded to get out of bed, slow-walked to the bathroom to get cleaned up 'like it matters' she thought to herself as she was brushing her teeth. 'I'll just go to sleep with grease stains all over my body tonight anyway'. She was seriously considering not getting ready in the morning and just taking a shower tonight so she can was off and relief some of the stress from the day's work. 'Fuck it' she thought, throwing away the motion as she waited for the hot water to kick in. lately she began to take longer and longer showers. It was a great escape from all problems and responsibilities that come with working 12 hours a day.

Once out of the shower and dressed for work, she went downstairs and smelled something awfully familiar, Mother fucking Stew… again! 'Oh well' she thought to herself, proceeding to the oven to pour herself a cup of freshly brewed tea. 'At least its Granny's cooking' she walked over to the cabinet to pull out a bowl and pour the stew half way into the bowl. She noticed that there were small chunks floating up to the top of her soup "beef chunks?" she looked over to Granny taking a sip of her tea and looking at customer requests and upcoming maintenances for regular customers. The old woman shook her head but never taking her eyes off the requests. "No, Chicken and rice. Thought I might spice up today's lunch a bit." Winry just shrugged and decided to give it a try. She sat down in the chair across from the old woman and proceeded to take a spoonful bite. Her eyes widened at the ever so delicious flavors and spices in the dish. Her morning frown turned into a wide smile as she continued to chew into the soft a chewy chicken that was cooked to perfection. Granny looked up from the pages and asked "are you going to get those requests done today?" Winry stopped eating to answer the woman's question. "Yea, but I'll have to go to the market to get more supplies." The woman across from her nodded in reply, "okay, just make sure that you get everything you need, we don't want to waste any more time than what we already wasted."

"Right! As soon as I'm done with lunch I'll head out and get the requests built and ready for installation."

She finished her lunch in silence and proceeded back upstairs to get her usual black coat and enough money for the vendors in town, although she made it accustomed to bring more money as the price for parts have been going up due to resource depletion in Amestris. Now feeling in a better mood after eating, she ran down the stairs and swung open the front door while shouting a farewell to Granny behind her.

Later, she took the train to central city as the prices of metal are too high for her hometown to afford to keep up with demand of the now rare metal. She didn't mind the long ride there as it gave her time to rest up a bit more on the train ride there. She stepped of the train and looked at the centralized clock in front of the exit to the main street of town. The clock read 2:45. 'Great! Just enough time to get the supplies and make it home before the deadline.' And with that she made her way to the exit.

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"Aw come on! That's the third Price increase in the last month!" she complained to the Automail parts merchant, his body language giving off a saying 'look are you gonna buy it or not?!' Winry had been haggling with the now pissed off merchant for more than 25 minutes but has yet to drop the price a single Cenz. Winry grunted in frustration seeing as she was getting nowhere. "Alright! What's it going to take for you to drop the price from 75,000 to 50,000 Cenz?" she Almost yelled the question in his face but controlled her temper enough to seem calm and reasonable, not letting her annoyance surface and showing weakness to the merchant. The merchant just looked at her with a small grin on his face and a twitch on his eye. "I'll make you a deal, you fix up my broken automail, and I'll drop the price to 35,000 Cenz." Winry scanned the gluttonous merchant and noticed that he had a very basic, no hinge foot with a few wires poking out and some nuts missing from the connection ports connecting the foot to the upper shin. "How'd you manage that?" Winry asked with a small grin growing on her face ready to ridicule whatever reason for this man can conjure up. "I had a wild boar attack me on the outskirts of the city, now are you gonna accept the deal or not?" Winry pondered at the extent of the damage and how much of her time it will take up. She estimated that it will take 50 minutes at most provided that he had the parts for it, which he did. "Alright I'll help you out, just take a seat while I find the necessary parts in your… wide selection of parts." Winry said with a slight stutter before the word wide, seeing as how the man wasn't the most plentiful in spare parts, but she picked out the parts she needed as well as the tools used to make said repairs.

While assembling the last of the conjoined parts to be inserted into the Automail, the Merchant decides to break the ongoing silence with some talk about his travels. Winry wasn't too interested as she would rather focus on her work. However, when he got to the topic of rumors he's been hearing going around with the other merchants, one of the rumors caught her attention. "One of my buddies was selling some bread when some state alchemist came up wanting some. Of course, being the skeptical person that he is, he questioned the kid not knowing he was an Alchemist-"Winry was particularly interested in one word in that sentence. "Wait, kid?!" The merchant just looked as surprised "I know right? Man these state alchemist are getting younger and younger every year. My buddy said that he couldn't be any taller than 5'9" or something like that. Anyways, the kid came up wanting some bread and when my buddy asked if he had any money, the kid pulled out his alchemist watch asking if he'll accept it as payment. My buddy just shooed him off since he was holding up the line and it was obvious to him he wasn't gonna pay." Winry looked up from the now fully repaired leg and gave the man a gentle smile. "Now, if you don't mind I'll be buying those parts now." The man stood up and tested the now repaired foot and was walking around smoothly, better than when it was broken. "Yea, yea, yea a deals a deal." Winry kindly handed over the required amount and the man gave her the parts she requested in the first place.

On her way back to the train station, Winry started going back to the rumor that the merchant was telling her about. 'Looks like you're not the youngest State Alchemist anymore now, huh Ed?' She thought to herself, though now wishing that she didn't. Old memories now resurfacing and emotions close to appearing on her face. She pushed down the tears, and stayed strong enough to continue walking as if nothing happened. She was close to the train station when she noticed a sliver of gold at the corner of her eye. Out of shear curiosity, she turned to see a young man with black pants and a white dress shirt, his hair was a color of gold, which explains what Winry saw, and it flowed down past the man's shoulders. The man started to turn in her direction and she could have sworn the man had golden eyes. No, it was most definitely golden, with a pair of glasses resting on the bridge of his nose. 'No, it can't be' Winry thought as she got closer to the man, now almost certain that it was the one person she thought she would never see again. "ED!" she screamed at him, tears on the verge of surfacing. She saw him turn in her direction and she started towards him at a brisk walk and slowly picking up speed to a jog. She was 3 feet away when she heard an awfully familiar voice behind her say "wait Winry stop!" but before she could, she leapt into Ed's arms, tears now flowing down her face. "I m-missed you s-so much!" was all she can muster out through the sobs. She never even made eye contact when she heard him say words she definitely didn't want to hear from him.

"Hey, I hate to ask but… who are you?"

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**A/N: well I said the next chapter would be longer and I kept my promise _. now, would you kindly review my story ?(if you got that reference, you have played a good game) but anyway, the next chapter may be awhile as I need to plan out more of the story and write it all down so please be patient. I may get it done it about a week. Thank you!**


	3. Chapter 2: Indescribable History

**A/N: three words.**

**Oh. My. God.****_ **

**First of all, I'd like to thank ****_ggtherescuer _****for leaving that awe-inspiring review as it helped me with my confidence towards this story. Actually making me think I am not that bad, but I think I'm getting over confident. I still think I need some improving but hopefully more and more people will like this story.**

**Most of the story from this point on may not come as fast as the last chapter, but fear not, For it will come! **

**Disclaimer: Again I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist, it is owned by Hiromu Arakawa but I am a fan of the series.**

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"I hate to say this but… who are you?"

Winry gasped at the words while her eyes contracted to a minuscule size as the words rang in her head over, and over. She pulled away from the Ed to look him dead in the eyes. She hadn't realized it at first, but Ed was a bit taller than her, no more than 2 to 3 inches taller than her. She looked up straight into his Golden eyes through the paper thin glasses, now pushed back up to be flush with his face. His facial expression was showing no sign of recognition or familiarity. Instead, he portrayed a face as if they have never met before.

'No, we have never met before, at least in his eyes we haven't' Winry thought to herself, looking over all the minute detail of his facial features as well as his body. His face had indications of soot covering his entire face as well as a bandage on his lower left jawline. It was haphazardly stuck on his face and she could see signs of burns. Besides what she saw from behind, he was wearing a black vest over the white dress shirt he had on. Looking closer, she could see scorch marks on his White dress shirt as well as a gaping hole on the right leg, revealing his bare knee. His sleeves were pulled up to his elbows, revealing that he still had the automail arm she had given him the last time he had come back. She was certain that that was the last time she would ever see him again, preparing herself for the worst to come in the time to come.

But here he was, standing right in front of her, looking like he had a bump in with a complete stranger.

"Winry! I'm so sorry!" the voice came from somewhere behind her, quickly coming up behind her as the voice grew closer and closer.

"Al?" Winry said as she slowly turned to see the young Elric Brother running over. He was no longer wearing the black pants and red coat that resembled the older brother attire before he left. Instead, he was wearing beige dress pants and a white dress shirt similar to the one Ed was wearing. He had black tie on but just like the rest of his clothes, it showed signs of a fire of some sorts. The younger brother reached the pair, gasping for breath and bending over in exhaustion.

"If this is some kind of sick joke, it's not funny guys!" Winry almost yelled the words, her voice squeaking from the held back sobs. She almost wished it was joke, anything is better than this situation.

But all Al did was look down in solemn shame "It's no joke Winry. As much as I wish it was, but it is pure fact that Ed doesn't remember anything except for me." Winry's mind raced with multiple questions. 'How could this of happened? Why only Al? How did they get back? And how did only Ed loose his memory?' She was thinking all of this but all she can muster up was a soft and almost inaudible "Why?" Al Looked back up from the ground and gave a long sigh. "Why don't we find someplace where we can talk this over?"

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They found a small Café and took a seat in there. They were sat down immediately as there weren't many customers. 'Oh, that's right, it's almost 4:45. I should really be getting home soon.' But she was determined to not go anywhere until Al explained what happened. Winry ordered a hot tea and Alphonse ordered decaf Coffee while Ed just sat on the inside of the booth looking out into the bustling city going by.

"I guess I should start on how we got here huh?" he looked at Winry but it was a clear sign that she wasn't going to answer, not that she needed to.

"It began about Three weeks ago when we got a lead about someone who was going to open a new portal to this world. He was an overzealous leader, who was following in the footsteps of the Thule Society. During his research and development of the new portal, he discovered a way to open the portal to Amestris without the need of both sides to make a sacrifice to open the Gate." He paused momentarily as the waitress came back with their drinks. Al nodded and thanked the waitress then proceeded to pour a spoonful of sugar and stirred the steaming liquid. He then took a sip of his coffee and continued with the story. "The man was insane; he wanted to invade Amestris in order to expand his country's borders as well as exploit the resources available in this world, saying it's some part of the 'Revolutionary Manifest Destiny', or RMD for short."

"Ed and I went to the Government of the Country and asked for their assistance in finding the bastard and putting a stop to his plan. We got a team of soldiers together and found out that he was hiding. Soon we were knee-deep in traps and supporters of the monster. We nearly lost everyone that came along before we actually found the portal prototype. He was an inventor so when he showed himself with a weapon of mass destruction that not even the military knew he had."

Ed looked back at His younger brother now interested in more of what he was saying. "The machine killed half of or men and pinned the other half behind cover, letting a barrage of bullets fly everywhere. We were nearly done for until Ed threw a grenade at the machine. Bad news is that the grenade didn't destroy the machine; good news is it was enough of a distraction for us to move in and pin him down. Ed took another grenade and threw it at the portal. Next thing I knew there was a white flash and I woke up on the lawn of our burnt down house next to Ed."

"So how did you know that Ed lost his memory?" Winry asked, still processing all the information that the Young Elric Brother just told her. Most of what he said didn't make sense to her as some the concepts in the story were too unbelievable. 'A machine of mass destruction? If that thing were to come to Amestris, we'd stand no chance at surviving.'

Al nodded in conformation at the question. "Well for starters he didn't know that the pile of ashes was our old house and that he kept asking me where we were."

Al looked into Winry's eyes and gave out a small sigh. "I know a lot of what I said makes no sense but you just got to believe me and not worry about what happened. The main thing we need to work on is getting Ed's memory back to normal. Whether or not he'll remember anything from the previous world is none of my concern."

Winry gave a puzzled look at the statement. "What makes you say that? Did something happen?"

Al finished off his coffee and shook his head at the question. "It's not about if something happened; it's a matter of what didn't happen. After I came to What Ed Called 'Earth', a war broke out between the country that we were in and the neighboring countries. We decided to leave the war stricken country as it was becoming unsafe to live there. We took a train to country to the west but it seemed like where ever we went, death and destruction would follow. No later than about a week after arriving, the military of the country we fled had invaded the peaceful and subtle country they called 'Paris'. Bombs dropped for weeks without end from airships bigger than anything that this world has ever made."

Al seemed to be getting more and more depressed as the story went on. "After the bombing had stopped, we had paid a shipping vessel to take us across the ocean to a neutral country that didn't want anything to do with the war going on over there. We were pretty comfortable in the peaceful country, that is until we learned about that monster and well, you know the rest." Al finished the story rubbing the back of his head, now glad that he got it off his chest.

Winry had now gotten her explanation and was now contempt. "Alright, why don't we go back to the Rosembool house and have a doctor take a look at Ed, maybe he can find a way to bring his memories back."

Before they got up to leave, Winry did a double take of the brothers. "And we need to get you a change of clothes… and a shower."

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They got off the train station at around 5:36. Almost a full hour over the time Pinako wants her home.

"Oh that's right! Granny Pinako's is gonna have a kick when she sees that you guys are back."

Al's face grew a large grin at the thought of having Granny's home cooking and sped up his pace a bit more. Ed, on the other hand, had different things on his mind.

'Granny Pinako? Great, another person I can't remember.' He wasn't sure who this Pinako is, but whoever she is, he got this feeling of nostalgia and a flicker of annoyance. This new girl however, only filled him with regret and sadness, yet he didn't know why. But at certain moments, whenever she turned to look back at him, he would feel his heart rate speed up and his face getting hotter. 'Who is this girl? What was my relationship with her? Were we really just friends? So why do I feel like this?

They walked in bliss silence until they came up to a yellow, two story house. Ed could see on the porch stood an old woman, about the size of a small child he noticed, sweeping dust and stray leaves. 'Pinako', from who Ed assumes to be, looked up from her chore to see the blonde girl approach the house.

Granny Pinako drew a nasty scowl as she saw the teen walking up the stairs to the porch. "Well it's about damned time you got back, where were you? We still have those orders for new customers and you still haven't even begun the-" she looked behind the apologetic girl to see two men standing at the foot of the stairs. "Oh, I didn't know we had guests." She looked back at Winry now looking a bit surprised. "Are they here to make a order or did they help you out with something?"

"Uhh….Granny, do you not recognize them? It's Ed and Al. They returned through some unknown circumstances."

Granny looked back behind the girl and gasped, her mouth now gapped open as the two started to walk up the stairs. "It's nice to see you again Granny." Al said as he stood next to Winry and Ed standing in the back of the pair, away from eyesight. "Well, this is a lovely surprise. Welcome back Al." she pulled the tall boy into a hug, having al to bend down to one knee so that he can accept the generous hug. Pinako pulled away and walk past Al to be in front of Ed. Ed looked was wondering if the small lady would do to same to him. "Could to have you back… Short Stuff." She grinned as she said the insulting nickname. This made Ed's eye brow twitch. "WHO ARE YOU CALLING SHORT STUFF YOU WALKING GARDEN GNOME?"

"YOU'RE STILL AS SHORT AS YOU TEMPER." Pinako screamed back at the blonde.

Ed was about to let loose on the old hag when she let out a small chuckle. "You still hadn't changed. Even after all these years." She said with an outstretched hand ready to welcome back the elder brother.

Al interrupted the moment, with an extended index finger. "Uhh… Actually Granny, there's something we need to tell you."

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**A/N: okay first of all, There Is no such thing as a RMD. I made it up so don't get pissed at me and send PMs about my false history. I did involve the invasion of France which was a real event in WWII. Hopefully everyone knows that now so again, **

**PLEASE REVIEW! The story has really shot up over the last few days and I don't know if all of you are enjoying it so far. But please be patient especially since tomorrow's Mother's day and I might not get a chance to work on the next chapter. So expect the next release in the next 3 to 4 days. **


	4. Chapter 3: Reiterated Knowledge

**A/N: First of all I'd like to say thank you to all of the people who read past the prologue and thought of it as not a piece of shit. I'd also like to thank ****_ggtherescuer_****, ****_CelestoArius_**** and ****_QueenCari1129_**** for being nice enough to leave a review about the story and giving me good advice on how to improve my writing as well as making me think that I can actually write a decent story.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist, it is owned by Hiromu Arakawa. I'm starting to think that you guys get it so next chapter and onwards there will be no more disclaimers.**

* * *

"Hmm… This is a great predicament indeed." Pinako nodding her head after Al had explained to her what he told Winry at the Café.

Al, Pinako and Winry were all sitting at the dining room table waiting for the doctor to be done with the diagnosis of Ed in the Guest Bedroom. It has been a full hour when the doctor arrived, and by that time, Ed and Al both had a shower and were given a change of clothes.

Footsteps could be heard as the guest bedroom door opened and the doctor came back downstairs. He didn't quiet have the face that just blurted out, 'Hey good news! He'll be fine!'

"Well, it appears to me he has a select type of Hysterical Amnesia. It's a type of amnesia, usually caused by a traumatic event that the mind is unable to properly handle. However, it's not just the event he can't remember, it's like his entire memory has been wiped. How he remembers his younger brother is beyond me."

Al and Winry looked at each other before Winry could speak up, "So is it permanent or will his memories ever come back?"

The Doctor only gave a twinge of a smile before he gave the only good news in the situation. "They will return but it may take some time before they come back, and even when they return he may not remember how it happened." He took out a piece of paper and scribbled something unreadable on it, "Here is a prescription for some pain relief medicine. During the time of his recovery he made develop some headaches so just give him one of those when it happens and then another a day later."

"So is there anything we can do to jog his memory?" Al said when he got up to receive the paper from the extended hand of the doctor.

"You could bring him to landmarks and people that he would have known before the accident but it may or may not work, seeing as how he didn't remember you." The doctor said as he pointed to Winry, still sitting at the table. "Although it may help to bring him to people and places he mostly socialized with and see what happens after that."

And with that, the doctor said his farewell and Pinako lead him out to the porch so that she may talk more with him, leaving Al and Winry to talk about what to do next.

"Well the first place I could think of to bring him would be the military headquarters, that's where most of our friends are and the nostalgia of the place may crank some gears in his head" Al said, looking at his cupped hands resting on the table.

Winry nodded in agreement and proceeded to get up. "I'm going to go and work on those orders, can't have the customer getting pissed again."

"Alright, I'll go see how Ed is doing and tell him the game plan." The younger brother said as he got up and continued to the bedroom.

"Oh and another thing Winry," Al said before taking the first step up the stairs. The girl turned back to see a look of seriousness on the brother's face, "Do not, under any circumstance, tell Ed about how he got his Automail limbs or the fact that we did a human transmutation on mother. It's best if he never finds out about it."

Winry gave a look of determination and nodded at the request from the younger brother, obviously trying to protect his brother from feeling the same guilt he did when he still had his memories.

"But you know that he'll remember it all once he gets his memories back right? What's the point in hiding it from him if he's just going to go back to the way he was?" Winry questioned the thought process of what Al wanted her to do.

"I know he'll remember. Just for the time being, don't tell him because it might be too dramatic of news to take at first, he might even have a panic attack and slip into a coma. Amnesia is a dangerous thing to deal with."

* * *

_"__Wait! Ed! What was it you were going to say?" Winry shout back at the Elric walking away from the train station._

_The Elric slumped a bit before he turned back around shouting, "I said the next time I make you cry I hope they will be tears of joy! And Al and I will have our original bodies back!"_

_But before the blonde girl could respond the scene disappeared, leaving the blonde in darkness. In the distance she could still see the elder Elric Brother still walking away._

_"__I'm sorry I couldn't keep my promise Winry." The voice of Edward coming from nowhere but sounding close enough to be face to face with her_

_And before Winry could say anything back to him, he too disappeared into the everlasting darkness._

"No Ed. Come back." Winry whispered through suppressed sobs.

"Hey! Blondie!" Ed shouted at the girl, now sleeping at her workstation, with a half-finished Automail Appendage in front of her.

The sleeping blonde woke with a startle and almost fell out of her chair. She lifted her head to see who would dare wake her up. Ed could tell that she didn't have enough sleep because her eyes were red and she had bags under her eyes.

"Wake up!" Ed now getting annoyed that it's taking her this long to understand where she is and how she got here.

Winry just looked at Ed then out the window to see that the sun was fully out. "What time is it?" She asked, rubbing her eyes to focus on the rays of light beaming on her face.

Ed just grimaced before answering to the ridiculous question, "It's almost 10:45! I can't believe your still sleeping."

Winry just groaned and laid her head back onto the workbench with some force behind the act, "Just let me sleep for a few more minutes, I really went to bed late."

"Well I can't let that happen, the old hag told me to get you to bring me to the Pharmacy and get this prescription filled out, and then she wants you to finish those Automail requests."

Winry groaned again but this time got up out of her chair and stretched to finally push that last bit of sleep out of her. "Fine, just give me some time to get ready." She then walked back to her room, dragging her feet with every step.

While Winry went through her daily routine of getting ready, Ed went to the bookshelf in the guest room and picked out a book to read. The title on the spine read, _'Alchemy:__the art of construction, reconstruction, and deconstruction of matter'_.

Ed slumped into the reclining chair and opened to the first page. The main book was an interesting read to Ed. Whatever Alchemy was, the book appeared to be well informed on the science even though it wasn't that big of a book. The book mentioned the different forms of Alchemy as well as how to actually perform the science. Ed flipped to the end of the book, curious as to what the final page was about. At the final page of the book, there was a warning in big bold letters saying _'Rules of Alchemy'_

In order to obtain something, something of equal value must be given to create the object

Alchemy cannot be used in the creation of gold as the economical state of the government will be sent into disarray.

Alchemy cannot be used be used for Human Transmutation as it is taboo and can result in serious injury or even death.

The last word was written in red ink as to prove the point that_ 'you will die'_. The book also showed an example of a transmutation circle and the multiple runes available for the circle. Ed made a mental note to ask Al if human transmutation was really that bad and if there is any chalk he can use to try the interesting science.

Before Ed could find the page he left off on, He heard footsteps approaching the room. He closed the book to meet the girl halfway. He almost bumped into the girl in the middle of the hallway, his mind wandering back to the book of Alchemy. What he saw her wearing caught him by surprise, if not for a second. She was wearing a black, sleeveless shirt and blue cargo pants, the pants still having some grease stains and holes made from cuts, obviously from a previous job assignment.

"Ready to go?" Winry was now in a better mood thanks to the warm water of the shower. Ready to get today's list of chores over and done with.

"Yea but why are you wearing that? You look like you're ready to repair a car or something." Ed said as he looked at her from head to toe. He also noticed that she had her hair straightened and pulled behind her ears.

Winry gave the blonde idiot a look of annoyance, "What? So you think it looks ugly or something?" Winry said ready to wrench the kid. She didn't care if he slipped into a coma, 'it'll be damn well worth it' she thought to herself.

"No, you look kind of good in it, it's befitting of you." Ed said, looking away from the girl as to hide the pink showing on his face.

Winry was taken aback by the statement, her eyes gone wide and her face going red from shear embarrassment.

"Th- thanks Ed." Winry mustered up enough to say the thank you, her face still red from the embarrassing moment.

"Ah whatever! Let's just go and get this over with." Ed said as he walked past the girl and down the fleet of stairs to the front door. "Come on!" He shouted behind him.

Winry just smiled and followed after the annoying Elric, thinking that today's going to be a good day.

* * *

**A/N:****I know I said to not expect anything for the next few days but I didn't think that I'd get anything done today. But anyways, I know I didn't mention it before but thanks to all who are following as of now and any future people to follow. Hopefully I had fixed most of the problems stated in the last chapter that my friend had PM'd me about; if not then I'll get it someday! Next chapter will be up possibly tomorrow and chapter 5 will be a break from the main story to clarify some things that I think need to be stated. I also planned on making this chapter a bit longer but I felt that this was a good place to stop for now, and plus I didn't want to ruin the fluff moment, even if it was a small moment. Credit to for the information on the type of amnesia Ed has. Yes, it is a real type of amnesia just a bit modified to fit my needs, look it up.**

**Please Review as It makes me happy :D**


	5. Chapter 4: Indescribable Changes

**A/N: Glad to see that my story is getting more and more people into it. If you're wondering, yes, I did change the summary of the story. Why? Because I felt that the summary didn't really fit what I wanted the story to be about. It will be EdxWin Love, but I'm not just gonna throw them love every chapter, it's going to be a minor change with a decent climax and ending to it. I also went back over the Prologue to fix some of my rookie grammar mistakes.**

**But anyways, enough of my rambling! Let's get back to the story!**

* * *

Ed looked back from the window to look in the direction of the Girl, who was tinkering with some wires and chips. She stopped momentarily to pull some bolts and a wrench out of her pockets that seemed to hold a small galaxy in them.

"Hey, so where did Al and the old hag run off to?" Ed asked, still thinking back to the book about alchemy, still even more determined to get to the bottom of why the science seemed so interesting and familiar.

"Oh, they went into town to get some food and a set of clothes for both you and Al, seeing as how your old clothes don't fit either of you." She did a full body scan of the Elric still not used to the changes that he went through in his absence. The most shocking of the changes is that he's now taller than her! He was standing at about 5'9" and she was at a mere 5'7". The second thing that was most alarming was that Ed had glasses, which was the most strangest of the all the changes. Considering the fact that he always had good eyesight when he was younger, it never seemed like he would need them.

"So do you remember when you started wearing glasses?" Winry was really curious as to how he came to have them in the first place.

"I asked Al about that when we were walking around before you bumped into us. He said that some bastards used something called tear gas to rat us out of hiding." He looked on as his face grew more and more depressed, "Once they smoked us out, they shot and killed some of the people we were bunking with. Al told me I kept my eyes open long enough to guide him to safety, and apparently I suffered long term effects." He looked back at 'Blondie' to see her reaction to it, expecting it to be of horror or sadness, but it wasn't that at all. It was a more content emotion, which really threw him for a loop.

Winry just smiled a leaned back in her seat, "Well, I'm glad that you saw to it that Al made it out alive. It was a very noble and brave thing of you to do." Ed just gave a small chuckle while rubbing the back of his head until Winry whispered, "Especially coming from you."

Over hearing the blonde's snarky remark, Ed couldn't hold it in. "Hey what is that supposed to mean?"

Winry just gave a light snicker, "Oh, nothing." Winry said waving off the subject.

* * *

"So I'm supposed to take one of these if I start feeling a headache?" Ed asked now looking at the orange pill bottle, the pills inside look the size of an almond; he could just imagine the pill crawling down his throat, and the thought made him cringe, having shivers crawling down his spine.

"Yep, the doctor said to take one and then one the day after the headaches start." Winry said with a happy smile creeping up on her face, happy to get the tedious chore over and done with and even happier when she remembered what is coming next.

"Now, we are going to the Café to meet up with Al and then we got a surprise for you Ed." Winry said, starting her walk towards the small restaurant that they first met up at. Ed soon followed instep behind the Blonde Girl. He had to admit, something about this unnatural woman really made him happy to be with her. Considering that he has no idea who she is or how she knows him, he was glad that she was nice enough to stand his rude behavior and language.

"Hey, Blondie." Ed said, trying to get the blonde's attention.

Winry let out a sigh before turning to answer him, "Ed you don't have to call me 'Blondie' every time. Call me Winry."

"I just wanted to know how we interacted with each other before I lost my memory, because you still talk to me like I haven't been gone at all." Ed said having a questionable look on his face; the question really bothered him though he couldn't figure out why.

"Well, I guess it's because since you're not running off all the time, and that since you lost your memory, you're not so secluded like you feel some kind of pain." Winry was still looking ahead, not even looking back at him even once when she answered his question.

"Hmm? Should I be feeling pain? What makes you say that?"

Winry almost stumbled as she almost broke her promise to Al the other night.

Oops.

She turns around to face Ed with a forced smile and Rubbing the back of her head, "Well, it's not like you had anything to feel bad about, I was just saying that it seemed like you were in pain all the time. I could be wrong about the assumption." She ended her cover up with a simple stick of the tongue as if to say she literally is a 'Dumb Blonde'.

Ed shrugged off the odd response and continued in the direction of the Café. Winry let out a silent sigh, relieved to have dodged a bullet. The two walked on in silence as they approached the entrance to the café. Next to the doors, Ed and Winry could see Al leaning against the wall, seeing the two approaching, he got up to wait for them to arrive.

"Ready to go?" Al said with a smile growing on his face. His words had a bit of an upbeat in every syllable.

"Yea but where are we going?" Ed said, a bit frustrated not knowing what the hell is going on, and even more frustrated as no one will tell him what they're doing.

"Just a bit longer, you'll see what we intend to do." Al assured his brother, taking the lead in the person group, leaving Ed and Winry to walk side by side each other.

"Hey, where did Granny go? Wasn't she with you today Al?" Winry asked, almost certain that Granny would be joining them for this momentous occasion.

"Oh she told me to go on ahead without her; she knew you wouldn't be able to work on the requests today so she took the matter into her own hands." Al said, trying not to look like he's enjoying the thought of what kind of punishment Winry will have to suffer through.

_'__Oh right, the Requests.'_ Winry thought to herself, punching herself for not getting it done sooner.

* * *

The Trio came up to an Elevated building with high, white walls that stretch into the sky, guarding whatever is inside. Once the Brothers plus one got up the high steps of a tunneled escalator for It to open up to a wide open court with branching paths to different parts of the U-shaped Building. The multi storied building stretching even higher into the sky as if trying to reach for the out-of-reach stars.

"Wow! It's been a while since we've seen this building again. Is Mustang the Führer now?" Al asked, still gawking at the nostalgia of the once home to them building.

"Oh we did away with the Führer way of Government. Instead we have a council of representatives who control a certain branch of government such as Education, Economy, and Military power. The Council meets up every month to discuss issues stated by the public and find out a way to solve these problems." Winry explained the great change to the State of Government. Al looked surprised at the change while all Ed did was huffed a breath with a bit of mock behind it.

"Like that's gonna last." Ed said looking bored of the place, "I give it about another year before it all comes crashing down due to different opinions."

"Geez Ed, so cynical towards everything, even without your memories you're still a jerk." Winry said, scrunching her eyes with her index fingers and thumb.

"Well, let's go inside, I'm sure everyone won't expect to see us." Al said as he smiled moved across the court yard to the front door.

Al and Ed walked side by side up to the receptionist's desk where they saw a busy at work secretary who was frantically answering phone calls and replying with 'Please Hold'.

"Yes can I help the two of you?" The Brunette asked as she looked up to the two brothers in between phone calls. She seemed to be wearing a modified version of the Military uniform Al is used to, and the woman herself seemed to be around twenty or twenty one.

"Uhh… may we go and see Lt. Hawkeye please? Al asked in the nicest tone possible, afraid that they might get shot down on the spot.

"Do you have an appointment with Hawkeye?" the Secretary asked, correcting the ranking mistake of the younger brother.

"Uhh-" Al almost finished what he was about to say when the older brother intervene.

"Yes, we are with the Military Inspection Program, we're here to evaluate the 's progress and performance as a military leader." Ed said with a low voice, trying to look older than he looks. Meanwhile, Al is looking terrified at the thought of getting caught lying. He franticly looked between his brother and the secretary every time one or the other spoke.

"I never heard of an inspection program. How come you guys are coming just now?" the Secretary was getting suspicious of the two's very different demeanors.

"Yes well, this Program has been in the books of the Council for some time now. We just now recently gained permission to start these routine inspections this month." Ed said keeping his calm act going on, confident that the lie will work.

"Oh well please go right on in. Miss. Hawkeye is on the 4th Floor in room 534. Please enjoy your visit." The secretary signaling to the elevator in the back left of the main building.

"Thank you, have a nice day ma'am." Edward bowed on gratitude, making the young secretary blush around the cheeks and the gentleman like action. Winry was getting annoyed with what was occurring in front of her. If she hadn't left her biggest wrench at home, Ed would be on the ground bleeding his head out.

"Brother! We shouldn't have lied back there. Now if we get caught, we're going to be in big trouble!" Al whispered into Ed's ear from behind, looking back and forth at the soldiers lining the multiple desks on the first floor.

"Relax Al, no one is going to know it's us, as long as we avoid anybody we know, we should be fine." Ed said, with calm and collected poise. They arrived at the elevator that was opening to allow others to leave, having the elevator completely empty as they pressed the button to go to the fourth floor.

"Yes but Brother, the whole point of us coming here was to meet everyone again." Al said, giving up on trying to convince his older brother to not perform the act, seeing as the deeds already had been done.

The bell to the elevator opened to a large, square, floor with multiple rooms with glass entry walls and inside each room was frantically working to get an unknown goal to be finished. They hadn't taken two steps out of the elevator when they bumped into a burly man, papers flying everywhere, obscuring their vision.

"Ah dammit! Watch where the hell you're going you piece of-" The man stopped mid-sentence as the papers settled and he was able to see the culprit behind the accident. "Fullmetal! You're back!" the man said with happiness in his voice as he forgot what he was complaining about.

"Hi Lt. Heymans. Sorry for bumping into you just now." Al said apologetically before turning to his older brother, "You really should watch where you're going brother."

"Ah forget about it, I'll get it later." The Lieutenant said, turning to the rest of the open room he cupped his hands to scream, "Hey everybody! Fullmetal's back!" his happiness was ready to burst as he tried to control his voice to actually enunciate what he's saying.

Soon, three other soldiers dropped what they were doing to come and see if what Heyman said was actually true.

"FULLMETAL!" all three of them screamed at sight of the long lost State Alchemist.

"Hi Lt. Havoc, Master Sargent Fuery, Warrant Officer Falman. It's nice to see everyone is doing well." Al said, being completely ignored as his older brother stole the spotlight without even trying. "You guys know I'm back too right?" He said, trying to be noticed.

A gunshot was heard coming from the somewhere behind everyone and Al could see that the bullet was shown implanting on the side of the wall.

"The next person to scream like a crazed fangirl won't have the benefit of me missing again." Riza said, stepping closer to the group who was exerting overloads of dopamine at the situation. When she got to the front of what they were celebrating, her serious façade diminished into a friendly smile, "it's good to have you back Fullmetal. Why don't we talk more in my office?"

All three of the ecstatic friends picked up the Elric and ran him into the office.

"Shouldn't we tell them about Ed's condition?" Winry asked, looking at the disappointed and exhausted face of the younger Elric brother.

"I'm seriously considering just having him hold a sign saying _'I have amnesia'_" the Elric brother let out a sigh and roamed to the chattering office, filled with inaudible shouts and exclamations of good news.

* * *

**A/N: More on the band of military friends in chapter 6, chapter 5 is reserved for a flashback scene from when the Elrics were on Earth. This also gives me an opportunity for me to get some more of my story thought out and at the end of the day, have a good, solid story for everyone to enjoy. **


	6. Chapter 5: Unaswered Inquiries

**A/N: Enjoy this Flashback into the Elric brother's time on earth!**

* * *

**Earth, 1940: Boston, Massachusetts**

"Excuse me, are you Edward Von Elric?" A bulky man asked, standing next to a black Cadillac with tinted windows, unable to see the driver sitting inside.

"Yea, who wants to know?" Ed asked, straining to see the burly man. He appeared to be wearing a white dress shirt and over that was a beige trench coat. Siting on his head was an identical fedora with a white cloth wrapping around the base of the hat. He also had a pair of pure black glasses, covering his eyes.

What a cliché.

The man moved his hand to open the door and motion with other to the inside, "It's best if we talk in here. You'll be brief more once we reach the destination."

Ed was skeptical of the situation. It was obviously a trap if not then they must really want his help. He shifted his weight to one foot and placed his hands on his hips, showing defiance.

"Please cooperate with us, we already have your brother, he's on his way to the same destination as we are. I can assure you with my life that no harm will come to him. We just want to talk to you and your brother, our superiors are interested in your… background history." The man said with a monotone voice, not moving an inch from behind the opened door.

"I swear, if I even see a scratch, no, if I even see a hair missing from his scalp, I will-" Ed started pointing a finger at the man.

"You'll do what Mr. Elric? With all due respect, you can't do anything to me, not without your alchemy you can't." the man said, still having his hand stretched out, motioning to the inside of the car. Ed's mind was running haywire.

'How does he know about alchemy? Is he a part of the Thule Society? And they have Al too? Dammit Al.'

"Do not worry; we aren't the bad guys here. We just want your help taking out the bad guy." The man said, now rocking on his heels, showing signs of his legs falling asleep.

"What bad guy? Another member of the Thule Society?" Ed asked and then suddenly regretting asking the question as he knew he would be shot down.

"Please come with us and we'll tell you everything." The man gave the simple response, again.

Yep, shot down.

"Fine, just let me see my brother first before we continue once we get there." Ed said, walking to the car, bending down to get into the left side seat and stepping over to sit in the right side seat, allowing him to relax on his metallic arm. He preferred to rest on his metal arm because it felt cold as a pillow and he could prompt it up and not have to worry about his arm falling asleep.

The man who was holding the door closed it after Ed came inside and walked around to the front passenger seat. He stepped inside and gave a short nod to the driver. The driver then started the car and began the drive down the road.

"So, now that I'm here, mind telling me where we're going?" Ed asked, now getting comfortable in the leather seat.

"To Washington D.C, we have our headquarters there and it's going to take some time. If you have no further questions, I suggest you get some rest." The man said, not looking back to the Elric.

"Yea I got a few question, first of all, who are you people?" Ed asked, leaning closer to the men, afraid that he might not hear any important details.

"I'm sorry, that is classified information, any questions regarding who we are and what we are doing will have to wait for when we arrive in D.C." Ed was almost disappointed in the plain answer, although he half expected the answer as these people fit every description of a typical secret agent there was so it was no surprise that they gave the 'classified information' excuse.

Ed let out a sigh seeing as how all his prepared answers have been shot down as well. He slumped back into his chair and decided to doze off, seeing as how it's going to be a long drive, about another seven hours.

* * *

Ed woke to the sound of thunder; he looked out the window to see rain pounding hard, the outside barely able to see outside. What he could make out was red a yellow lights blinking simultaneously. Ed guessed it must be a runway seeing as how the lights stretched down a long, flat plain. He could see in the distance a few hangars sporting a dark green color. The car came to a stop as they approached a security check point. The driver rolled down the window to flash his I.D and the soldier on guard duty nodded and reached his hand inside the post to press the button that lifts the post.

"So mind telling where EXACTLY we are now?" Ed asked, rubbing his eyes to focusing on the man in the passenger seat, as the image was starting to split and he could see doubles.

Boiling AFB, a research and development base, here we test hi-tech aircrafts and any advancement towards Aerospace." The 'Agent', Ed thought that just calling him 'man' didn't cut it anymore, looked left and right to get a full 180o view of the compound. "Soon we'll be going underground the base itself to the real base, where we'll then explain everything."

Ed watched the ongoing rain pound the window as they approached a gap in the ground where it would tunnel into a large parking lot with multiples of the same car that Ed was in. the driver pulled up to one of the open spots, turning the car off. The two agents got out of the car and the Passenger agent opened Ed's door to allow him to step out. The two agents walked side by side while Ed stuck close behind them. They came up to a metallic door where one of the agents punched in a code. The other turned to Ed and motioned to the opening door.

"This way please, Mr. Elric." Agent #2 said, now showing some faint form of emotion as it almost sounded like he had politeness in his voice.

Agents # 1 and 2 led Ed down a long corridor with multiple steel doors with no windows vents, just grey, nothingness. The Agents stop in front of one of the tens of thousands of doors and opened it, not going in first as they stepped aside to let Ed walk in. Ed strides into the door and the Agents close it behind him.

Ed looked around the room to see only a wooden desk and two chairs opposite of each other. And in the furthest from the chair was an old man with a receding hairline and a handle bar mustache. He had a pair of round bifocals sitting on the bridge of his nose, almost ready to slip off.

"Please, come in, come in. have a seat we have much to discuss." The old man said with an upbeat tone that resembles something of a grandfather. Despite his appearance, the man doesn't seem to show signs of father time taking effect on him. His voice sounded that of a fifty year old, not an eighty year old.

Ed walked to the open seat but struggled to focus on the chair as his eyes wouldn't want to keep his focus.

His struggling must have been noticeable as the man cleared his throat to get Ed's attention, "would these be of some help?" the man asked pulling a box out of his jacket pocket and sliding it over to Ed. Inside the box was a pair of glasses that didn't quite look like the old man's pair but when Ed tried them on, they fit on his face perfectly, and the focus of the glasses allowed him to see perfectly again.

"How'd you know my eyes were damaged?" Ed asked looking around the room to test the focus at different distances.

"Your younger brother told us. He told us about how you saved him from a Nazi raid on a Jewish hide away. He said that you kept your eyes open in a smoke of tear gas to see your way out. I must admit, not even our toughest soldiers can stomach open eyed tear gas." The man said, giving Ed a grin and thumbs up at a job well done. Ed reminded himself to kill Al the next time he sees him for giving away private information.

"Well then you need to get stronger soldiers." Ed said with a chuckle as he sat himself down in the empty chair. "Speaking of which, where's my brother?" Ed asked, giving a nasty look to the man.

"Oh you don't need to worry about him, he's resting in one of the bunk rooms we have here, you'll join him once we're done here." The man said motioning a thumb to the back of him, signaling the rooms past this one.

"So, seeing as the agent that brought me here knew about Alchemy, I'm guessing you also know about how I and Al are from a different dimension." Ed said, leaning in his seat and propping his elbows on the desk, bring his cupped hands to his mouth.

The man nodded in confirmation, "Yes that's correct, we interrogated a member of the Thule Society and he spilt the beans on Shamballa and how it's some kind of paradise."

"Well let me just tell you, that world is no more of a paradise than this one is, and that's coming from experience." Ed said in the most hatful words he could muster.

"Well one man wants to exploit your 'paradise' by invading your world and make it his own. His name is Richard Mulligan. He plans to invade and reap all of the resources of your world and make technology far greater than what we have right now. He wants the metal that is made in creating your prosthetic." The man motioned to Ed's right arm, proving that they know everything about The Elrics.

"How does he plan to get there? Even if he made another portal to my world, he still needs the other side to make a sacrifice to the Gate of Truth before he can enter." Ed stated the point, with a questioned face, wondering how this man made a new portal. Ed only thought there was the one that the Thule Society used.

"Our agent doing espionage in his compound relayed information saying that he discovered a way to make portal open without the need of a sacrifice from the other side. He does it by sacrificing a mass of people at the same time and then using an electric shock with enough voltage to destroy a city block to open the portal. They already did preliminary tests at a much smaller scale." The man then lifted from the side of his chair a folder with 'Richard Mulligan' etched in the nameplate of the folder stick out. He slid the folder to the Elric for him to open and study.

"That's all the information we have on the guy. Please look at it as much as you want, provided that you help us stop him." The man then pulled out a pipe and lighter to ignite the tobacco. He pulled out a pack of cigarettes motioning one to the blonde; he denied the offer and continued to read the portfolio.

"So what does he use for a sacrifice?" Ed looked up after reading the basic information on this Richard guy.

"He uses Human sacrifices, and judging from the amount of followers he has at his disposal, he's got enough for one jump." The man gave a puff of his pipe, and huffed out the smoke in a ring into the air.

Ed was shocked at the news of the sacrifices, "this idiot plans to use the lives of others for the benefit of him and himself only?!" Ed was getting pissed now, making a fist to exert some of the anger inside of him. "Alright that settles it, count me in. I want to smash this bastard into the ground. How dare he use something as valuable as a Human soul as a sacrifice."

"Glad to hear it, welcome aboard Edward Von Elric." The man said, letting out a large puff of smoke into the air.

* * *

**A/N: If you guys didn't know, the Old man is Lt. General Grumman's doppelganger. I know he wasn't in the original but I felt like it would be fun to have him on Earth asking for the Elric brother's help.**

**Review, because the review button gives a cookie to me as a present ****:D**


	7. Chapter 6: Painful Reminders

**A/N: I know I'm a bit behind on my regular updating time but hey I needed a break for a day. Now that I got that little bit of Flashback out of my system, it's time now to back to the main story!**

**Please review as it keeps my torturers from killing me for another day… send help**

**Don't really.**

* * *

"Oh come on! You come back after 3 years and you're telling me Ed's got amnesia?" Havoc complained, sitting backwards on a chair while smoking the umpteenth cigarette of the day.

Al let out a gasp of breath after explaining, again, the situation about his older brother. Ed was in the chair facing Hawkeye's desk, mildly confused about what all the fuss was about. He didn't know them so it's natural for them to not know him.

Right?

Fuery left the room in the middle of the explanation to listen in on radio-ins coming from all over the country, mostly about trivial things such as giving an all clear from a border post or a request for more supplies soon. Hawkeye shooed of Heymans to clean up the mess he so rudely left on the floor outside the elevator. The only ones in the room now were the Elric brothers, Hawkeye, Havoc, and Winry who was leaning on the open wall just to the left of Hawkeye's desk. Ed would often catch her looking out the window to the wide scenery that the building provided.

"Well, I guess the only thing to do for now is help him get his memory back through any means necessary." Hawkeye looked at the Elric sitting in front of her, "so do you remember anything about any of us? Do our faces seem familiar?"

"Not really, I don't remember anything about you guys, as far as I'm concerned, this is my first time meeting you guys." Ed looked around the room at every one of the people that made his acquaintance today.

Hawkeye let out a sigh of despair, "Great, another thing on my plate, just what I needed." She said, scrunching her eyes together with two fingers.

"Um… where is Col. Mustang? I was hoping that maybe he could help us with recovering Ed's memory." Al asked, looking a little nervous asking the question. Part of him wanted to see the Colonel again and another part of him was shaking at what kind of favor the Elric owes the Flame Alchemist for closing the portal so long ago.

"Unfortunately, he went back into hiding after he helped us stop the Invasion three years ago. This time he made sure we won't find him again, we've been searching ever since." Hawkeye said, slumping into her chair, checking the papers scattered around her desk, some just recent and others have not been touched in a week.

"Well that is unfortunate. Wait, did you say three years ago? Because from what I remember, we have been on earth for about five years now." Al said looking puzzled, recounting the time they had been on earth to make sure his assumption was correct. "Say Winry, how old are you now?"

"I'm nineteen, that means Ed should be eighteen and you should be seventeen right now." Winry said, looking and pointing at Alphonse.

"Well that can't be true because we celebrated Ed's nineteenth birthday last year. He's nineteen almost twenty in a few weeks and I'm eighteen almost nineteen in a few months." Al said, getting more and more confused by the moment.

"If I can say something about it," Ed said, finally breaking his long silence in the conversation, "Al says five years went by in the Alternate Universe and three years have passed here. My only guess would be that the alternate world is faster in the sense of time. While each Universe has the same amount of time as the other, the sense of how we perceive that time could be different than the other. Both worlds have the same months, the same weeks, and the same days. Everything down to the millisecond is the same, at least that's how we perceive the time to be. If we were to put the two worlds side-by-side and compare them, we would notice small differences in that the other world will be acting faster than this world while still holding the same time as this world."

Al looked at his brother in astonishment at the accusation, "that would make sense. While the alternate world was in the year 1940, this world is still in 1824. With that theory and putting in motion from the start of time for both universes, it's only natural for the other world to be get ahead at some point. The seconds would be determined as going faster without actually changing the time it is set at."

Winry looked at both of the Elrics with the most confusion she had ever had in a long time. "I swear, you guys are going to give me the biggest headache ever," she grew a smile on her face, "It's good to have you guys back."

Al looked at Ed with an impressed expression on his face, "Wow Ed, I didn't know you were still this smart, even without you memory."

Ed gave him a pouted grimace, "Just because I don't remember anything Al doesn't mean I'm stupid."

"Hehe… yea sorry, forgot for a second." Al said, rubbing the back of his head and giving his brother a apologetic smile.

"Why don't you guys go back home and we'll try something else in a few days, I'm leaving for the southern part of Amestris to inspect some of the outposts. In the meantime, I want you to bring him to places that he will most likely remember, be it a restaurant or even the park, I don't know, just anything that can be of any help." Hawkeye explained to Al and Winry, telling them the details of their homework.

"Okay we'll get on it tomorrow." Al said, nodding in conformation.

* * *

The trio was walking on the road that leads to the train station when Al noticed a Billboard he never seen before. He stopped to see that the billboard had posters of people in strong standing positions and every one of them would have a motto or slogan on the bottom of it. Some would say inspiring while others would seem like they would slander other people that had a poster.

"Hey Win, what are all these posters for?" Al asked, still looking at most of the posters.

"Oh, these posters are for the Military Representative seat on the council. The last one stepped down for some unknown reason. I heard it was because he had some kind of family issue." Winry said, recounting the old rumors.

Al was looking over many of the poster's designs. Some were very intricate while others seemed very basic. Al was about to turn back to his friends when one of the posters made him do a double take.

"Hey Ed, tell me. Do you remember this guy?" AL said, pointing to one of the posters that was standing out.

Ed just sighed as he walked up to the poster, "Again with this Al? How many times do I have to say it I probably won-" Ed was going to finish his sentence when he set eyes on the poster Al wanted to show him. His eyes went wide in shock and his hands began to tremble.

"Hey Ed, you alright?" Winry said, noticing his change in emotion. She was getting more worried when she noticed that he wasn't answering.

Ed put his hands to his head and let out a blood curdling scream. Al had to hold him so that he wouldn't fall to the ground.

"AL, WHO IS THAT YOU SHOWED HIM?" Winry had to scream over Ed just to ask her question. Ed's screaming went on for 15 more seconds until his eyes went crystal, showing that he had passed out.

Al took up Ed with one arm over his shoulder, hoisting the brother up, "That, Winry," He said pointing his free arm at the poster, " Is Richard Mulligan, the man we thought we had killed on earth before we came back."

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**A/N: OOOooo Plot Twist!**

**Sorry this chapter isn't as long, I just had too much on my plate lately so I'm finishing this chapter at this point because I couldn't come up with more filler or plot developing moments. So, next chapter will be longer, I promise.**

**Remember to review!**


	8. Chapter 7: Muted Feelings

**A/N: I'd like to thank lilaclily00 for leaving that hilarious review on the last chapter. I'd also like to thank daisyleung, and WhenLolzCry05 for favoriting the story as well as Cutiepie120048, Alchemy pancakes, lilaclily00, daisyleung for following the story. I know it's been a while since I did that and I feel sorry for not giving these people any love! If I missed any, PM me and ill add you in. a good point that lilaclily00 brought up was about how much Ed remembers about Al. All Ed remembers about Al is the fact that he exists, he doesn't remember anything that they did, hence why he doesn't know about alchemy or their mother.**

**Enjoy this chapter!**

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Al gently closed the bedroom door, making sure not to wake his sleeping brother. Thirty minutes after Al and Winry got back with Ed in tow, he woke up to be met with harsh headaches. Al gave Ed one of the prescribed pills and a glass of water to wash it down. The pill did its job of relieving him of the headaches but it left him very drowsy. Al went back down stairs to join Winry in the kitchen for dinner.

"How's Ed?" Winry asked after filling her plate with mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables. She walked to the dining room table to sit down and listen to Al's reply.

"He's sleeping now; the pill I gave him relieved his headaches." Al said, coming into the dining room with a full plate, much more than what Winry was eating.

There was a long pause between the two as Al sat down to eat. The only sound in the room was the clanking of forks on plates as each dug into their plates. It was Winry who broke the silence when she was wondering about something that really bugged her.

"So how come we got a reaction from that man when we brought him to everyone he previously knew, and didn't get a twitch from Ed?" Winry said, dropping her fork onto her plate. Easily disturbed by what happened a few hours ago.

"I don't know for sure. But, if I had to guess, I'd say it's because Mulligan was the last memory Ed had created before we came back and he lost his memory." Al declared, picking up his glass of water to wash down the mashed potatoes, now moving on to the steamed vegetables.

"So you think that if we work backwards from earliest memory and later, we could get some results?" Winry asked, the situation getting stranger and stranger by the minute.

"Yea, that's what I was thinking; for starters, what we could do is show him past events before he and I both left for earth. Are there any artifacts of that day still around? Like an Airship or an armored soldier?" Al was going back through their long and complicated life, all the ups and downs, the good memories and especially the more bad ones. Well, all the bad ones except _that_ one. That one was to never be mentioned, at least not now.

"Remember, this is all on the assumption that he remembers anything about Mulligan in the first place. For now, we should rest up and see in the morning how he fairs. Agreed?" Al said, lifting his plate up to clean it in the sink, Winry following suit.

"Agreed. If there's any change, I'll go into Central City to see if there is anything left over from the invasion." Winry washed off her plate and put it on the dry rack. She looked up at the clock and saw it was 8:25, "Seeing as I have time to spare, I'll finish up those Automail request. I've really been procrastinating lately. Oh yea, and one more think, HOW THE HELL IS SOMEONE FROM EARTH HERE?!" Winry screamed, just now remembering the crucial point of the entire reason they're discussion.

"I don't know! When Ed threw the grenade, I was holding him down for the last few seconds when he slipped out and went after Ed. Mulligan must have dematerialized with Ed when we transferred back to this world." Al was making pacing around the room. He grabbed a book from the shelf and was starting out the kitchen when her turned back.

"Hey Winry, I have a question that's been bothering me." Al said, at the entrance to the Living Room, with the book tucked under his arm. "What do you think about Ed?"

"Well, the problem doesn't help but so far, everything was the same as when he left. His personality sure hasn't changed that's for sure." Winry said, walking up to the first step of the stairs to get changed for 'work'.

"That's not what I- never mind. Just forget about it." Al waved off the question and slumped into the lounge chair to read his book.

However, Winry knew what he was asking; she just didn't want to answer him truthfully. Can she even answer herself truthfully? She didn't know what her feelings were for Ed. She had learned to let go of those feelings thinking that she would never see him again. She was almost certain that when he left on that…rocket, 'is that the word for it', he was saying goodbye, for good. Lately, it seemed those feelings were coming back now. Though somewhere in the back of her mind, she was afraid of him getting his memories back. She was afraid that he would leave her again, without even an explanation like he always did.

She decided to hold off her feelings for him so she can better prepare herself for when he disappoints her again.

She shrugged off Al's question with her impeccable acting skills and bounded upstairs to get changed.

* * *

"Dammit Blondie, how many times do I have to wake you up like this? Wake up!" Ed screamed into her ear, he had an angered face on at the idiotic blonde thinking about the irresponsible tendencies he's catching her performing.

The blonde woke up in scare and, this time, she actually fell out of the chair she fell asleep in _again_.

"For god's sakes Ed! Can't you wake me up in a nicer, calmer way?! I don't want to wake up one day and suffer a concussion!" Winry screamed in his ear, she was rubbing her head after taking the fall that woke her.

"Well next time don't fall asleep in a workshop! Sheesh!" Ed said picking out earwax in his ear with his pinky. "I'm suffering from headaches and what do you do? You scream in my ear!"

"Hehehe… sorry. Forgot for a second." Winry scratched the back of her head, one being to message her head from the fall, and the other reason was for causing him some more pain. "Speaking of which, do you remember anything about that man that you saw?" Winry asked with her index finger pointing at the Elric.

"Not much really, just a lot of death, something about a portal and electricity that was bright as hell." Ed said; with a bit of despair in his voice at the new memories he recently received. He looked down at the floor, not wanting to make contact with the Blonde. He didn't know why, but he didn't want to make the blonde sad, no matter what. '_What have I done to feel like this?_'

"Hey, if you don't want to talk about it that's fine. I can wait until you're ready." Winry said, putting a hand on his shoulder for comfort. She made a mental note to screw her decision on her feelings for him when he showed these moments of weakness.

Ed didn't look up. Instead, he sucked in a large breath before speaking again, "Breakfast is ready, that's all I came down here for." He turned back around and started up the stairs.

Winry smiled and started to pick up her mess of parts on the work bench. "Thanks Ed." She whispered audible only to herself.

* * *

"Why are we going back to the City AGAIN?" Ed groaned as he has to sit through another train ride to the densely populated area. He somehow hated the crowds, it's not like he was claustrophobic or anything, he just hated seeing every one go on with their lives as if nothing is happening, unaware that there's a psycho running to be head of their military. '_It's not so bad_' he thought to himself, '_Maybe he won't win._'

"Oh would you relax Ed! We're just going to the military archives to see if we can't jog you memory anymore." Al said scratching his head in annoyance at his _older_ brother's complaints

"Oh no! We are not doing this! I don't want another ridiculous headache like the one from yesterday!" Ed said waving his hands in front of his chest, denying today's activities.

"It'll be fine Ed, I'm sure you only got that headache because it was the first sign of your memories come back. If you start having the headaches again I'll just give you one of the pills I brought with me." Al said, shaking the small pill bottle.

Ed was almost ready to interrupt and argue again when he noticed a group of people forming a crowd at the base of a building. The crowd seemed to be looking up at something. The building seemed like a hotel with 10 stories to it. It wasn't anything fancy or anything but it had a grandeur state of architect with intricate designs around the pillars and window sills.

"Hey, what's that all about" Ed asked, pointing a thumb at the still growing crowd.

"Don't know, let's go check it out." Al said walking to whatever the crowd was gawking at.

The brothers got to the back of the crowd to hear nothing but mumbling between the people of the crowd.

Al walked up to one of the people looking at whatever the brothers couldn't see when they looked up, "umm excuse me, what is everyone looking at?"

"Can't you see? Someone's going to jump! He's one of the Candidates for the Military Representative opening. If you ask me I think he's really serious about jumping!" The man said, looking back up for when the man would actually jump.

"Isn't anyone going to help him or stop him?" Al asked, not really directing it to anyone in particular.

"It's no use Al, come on. Maybe we can get there in time to-" Ed started through the crowd when all of the people let out a huge gasp. The man had jumped!

"Dammit!" Ed yelled. He ran through the crowd to get to the front. He clapped his hands together and placed them on the ground. Blue electricity flying around as concrete reconstructed to a smooth slide that started at the base of hotel and ran up to where the man was falling. The Rep slid back down to the ground and the crowd let out a round of applause at the marvelous feat.

"Ed, how did you know how to do that?" Al asked in awe at the quick thinking of his older brother.

"Don't know, but it was amazing, wasn't it?" Ed asked, not looking for an answer to his rhetorical question. "You okay mister?" he asked the panting man.

"You don't understand! If you hadn't intervened, they wouldn't have to kill me!" He said in panic as he was frantically looking behind his back at all times.

"Who wants to kill you?" both the brothers asked in unison.

"The-" the man asked when the sound of a gun going off drowned out his voice. Ed looked up to see a bullet hole going straight through his head, right in between his eyes.

* * *

**A/N: Ahh… I love cliffhangers. Don't you *laughs manically* **

**But anyways thanks for reading and please review! Once this story is finished I may do a SnK Fanfic because I notice that no one does a good MikaxEren fic which bothers me. If you guys ever made one or know of a good one then please PM me the title and author so that I can read it!**


	9. Chapter 8: Escalated Tensions

**A/N: CEL-A-BRATE GOOD TIMES COME ON!**

**1000 views! I so happy! I'd like to thank khr1410 for favoriting the story and hopefully I can live up to it. Now that I got most of the introductions done, I'm going to be ramping up the action in the next chapters. And when I say ramp up, I mean S**t. Will. Hit. The. Fan. People will die. *puts on sunglasses* deal with it. It's hurt/comfort for a reason. And that means hurt for you guys too. That also means more cliffhangers if the situation fits.**

**Enjoy!**

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The rest of the day went on in a blur. Police sirens came into view within minutes, and set up a perimeter around the crime scene. They carried the body of the Candidate to the morgue for investigation and to have his family identify the body. Ed was sitting on the side of the curb with his arms resting on his knees. The sky was starting to cloud up, a perfect resemblance to the mood in the air. Ed pulled up the edges of his coat's collar up in preparation for the rain. Al was with a police officer explaining in detail what transpired almost two hours ago.

"Excuse me, Fullmetal Alchemist?" An officer approached the depressed man from behind. He was holding an umbrella in his left hand and a small notepad in his other.

Ed started to get used to the nickname everyone had given to him. It seemed to fit him well, considering that he was literally half metal. Her turned his head to look up at the officer, who now stood in front of him.

"We need you and your brother to come with me to the morgue, the investigators would like to talk to you. If you would please come with me." The officer asked, motioning to his car parked a few yards away, its lights still going in its rhythmic pattern. Ed nodded and got up to follow the officer, he waved a hand at Al, who was coming back from the explanation, to come with him. Al nodded in confirmation, speeding up his pace to catch up to his brother.

The ride there was a silent one, but during the ride, the rain finally decided to come down onto the city. The only sound that could be heard all the way to the morgue was the sound of the engine and the constant pounding of the rain, which was getting heavier and heavier by the minute.

By the time they got to the morgue, an officer was waiting outside with an umbrella extended for the Elrics to get under. He led them inside and into a pale blue room with a preparation table in the middle of the room and the body of the candidate lying limp on it. The body's previous clothes have been removed and replaced with traditional hospital scrubs. The doctor who was in charge of investigating the body was at a table in the corner filling out papers inside a folder. When he saw the Elrics enter, he closed the folder and came behind the prep table, resting his hands on the edge of the table.

"I'm afraid that I have some bad news for you boys." The man said, taking off his glasses to rub off a smudge on them. "It appears that there was a scuffle with our victim here before he jumped."

"Further investigation of the body indicates minor bruising around the neck and the upper part of his back. When we opened him up to see if there was any internal bleeding, we saw that he had two fractured ribs and we found out that his stomach had traces of drug use in them. An overdose of some anti-depressants forced the opposite of what they were intended to do, causing him depression and thoughts of suicide, which led him to jumping off the roof." The man walked around the body pointing out the bruises and minor cuts around the body. Luckily, they had already stitched up the body so that Ed and Al didn't have to see the disgusting view of an open chest.

"After inspecting his apartment, we found signs of a struggle, which explains how he got the bruises. We also found his personal safe, wide open and missing its contents. We are still figuring out what was inside at the moment. Upon impact of the bullet, it exited his cavity and imprinted on the ground, we determined where the sniper could have been and figured out he may have been at least a quarter of a mile from the hotel, on a roof maybe. When we investigated a building that fit the description, we found traces of gun powder sears around the edge of the building but found no trace of a bullet casing, meaning that we're dealing with a professional, but he was sloppy in the cleanup, probably was in a hurry to leave." All the while the doctor explained what was happening, the Elric brothers said nothing, just looked at the deceased body of someone they _almost_ saved.

"Now what I'm about to say isn't any good news either. This isn't the first time this had happened lately. Almost four other bodies have been found, all found dead in different ways, either shot or tortured to death. What is really offsetting is that all of them were candidates like this man here," He said, pointing to the dead body, "All running to be the Military Representative."

Ed looked at the man dead in the eye, a face of concern showing, "Have you warned the other candidates? Has anyone actually lived and saw the attacker?" He asked, getting more and more nervous.

"We have warned them, but we can't do anything about it if they have their own set of security. There was one who lived, a man by the name of Richard Mulligan, he came into the hospital, with a cut chest and a bullet wound in his left shoulder. He said he escaped the attacker but didn't get a good look at him. We knew it was the same killed because the caliber of the bullet was the same as every other Victim, a .30 caliber bullet. Probably military since the same caliber is used in our semi-auto rifles."

Ed relaxed a bit at the mention of _that man's_ name, ruling him out as a possibility. Although he tensed back up as he realized that he has a new problem on his hands. "Did you run an inventory search to see if any rifles or bullets were missing?" Ed asked, thinking about the information told to him, trying to make any connections to anyone he probably saw around the time of the crime, but no one seemed to be holding a case that could conceal a rifle of that size, from what he remembered.

"We did yesterday and today just now, but found no evidence of a rifle missing, same goes with the bullets." The doctor said, pushing his glasses back up to the highest point on his nose.

"Well okay, we'll help with finding this bastard." Ed said, walking to the exit. He looked outside to go talk to the officer in charge at the morgue "I need you to contact your CO and tell them to keep us in the loop of information, any new leads that come up, you don't act until we are on the scene, clear?" Ed asked, the officer gave a salute and ran to the nearest phone to contact HQ, obviously scared and disturbed by the orders of the state alchemist.

The rest of the day was spent in silence back at the house. Ed sat in the lounge chair reading another book about alchemy and its uses. Al went out for a walk a said he was going to be late for dinner so they can eat without him. Winry was in her workshop still working on the automail. Dinner was average as always, cooked steak and salad. Everyone ate in silence, no one wanting to break the continuing silence. Al came back home 45 minutes after dinner had ended and heated up what was left for him.

Ed and Al both went to bed a bit earlier than what they were used to. Al slept like a baby but Ed was rolling in his sleep.

* * *

_"__Ed," Al whispered to his brother, not wanting to be caught, "They're coming closer, are they looking for us?" _

_"__No Al, they're looking for the Jews not us, they might think we're Jews since we're staying with them but rest assured I'll do whatever it takes to keep us alive." Ed said, resting a hand on the younger brother's shoulder. He put a finger up to his lips as he saw the soldiers approaching their hideout. _

_The soldiers were shouting something to each other that the Brothers couldn't understand. One soldier shouted something to his comrades and pointed his flashlight at the hideout._

_"__Crap they spotted us. When I give you the signal, we run for it bef-" Ed was whispering until he heard the clanking of a can hitting the ground near their feet. Everyone looked at the can for a second before it started to eject a yellowish-green smoke. The smoke caught in their lungs and burned their eyes to the point where they couldn't see._

_"__Crap *cough* Run!" Ed said, grabbing his brother's arm and making his way to the back exit of the hideout they were in._

_Ed didn't look back or try and direct anyone else to safety, because truth be told, there wasn't much time and the others would just slow them down. From what he could hear though, there was a lot of shouting, screaming, and coughing coming from the hideaways. He heard a slam of the door being destroyed and the sounds of multiple guns going off in the room. Now all he heard was screaming, moaning, and pleading from everyone except the soldiers._

Ed woke up with a startle; his breathing was ragged and shaky.

'_It was just a dream, right_?' he questioned to himself, but looking back to the story that Al told him about how he got his bad eyesight, the dream made sense with what his brother told him.

'_Was that a memory_?' again, thinking to himself. Ed caught his breathe and went back to sleep. This time, however, he didn't have any memory dream.

* * *

Ed and Al were walking to the military Headquarters so that they can get more information about the case and figure out a lead for where to start. They were just about to enter the main building when a giant figure came out in front of them, his friendly and strange voice boomed in their faces.

"Ah Edward and Alphonse Elric! It is such a wonderful sight to see you boys in fair health." The Elrics looked up to meet eye to eye with Major Armstrong.

"Oh, hello major. It's good to see you too." Al said in awkwardness at the strange individual who was now flexing his muscles in happiness (he guessed).

"I heard that you boys have returned and are helping the military with an investigation case. I was going to look for you boys to introduce your partner in the investigation." The friendly giant said as he moved to the side to let the man behind him out into the sunlight. The man seemed to be around thirty and forty but his hair was already greying around his head and his face. His hair was whooshed back with it coming up like a puff. He had a full grown goatee covering most of his mouth and had an eye patch covering his right eye.

"Pleasure to meet you mister..." Al said with his hand extended to shake it, not even hearing the man name yet.

"The name's Joseph Kennedy, and the pleasures all mine." He said as he took up the friendly gesture and shook Al hand. His voice seemed to indicate that he was a smoker since it had a raspy sound to it. "Most people call me the Gun Smoke Alchemist. My specialty is gunpowder explosives, meaning I can create gunpowder explosions with any surface, provided it's a flat surface."

"I hope we can work together nicely on this case, Gun Smoke Alchemist. We look forward to working with you." Al said with a smile on his face.

Joseph bowed to a 90 degree angle, "As do I Fullmetal and his brother." He said, coming back up with a smile on his face.

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**A/N: oh my god this was a hard chapter to write. Not that I had trouble figuring out what to write, it's just I had a lot to do yesterday so I could barely work on it without being tired. But now I'm back and ready to continue writing! Okay, I know I said most of the introduction were over and done but I couldn't forget everyone's favorite Giant... plus one.**

**Review!**


	10. Chapter 9: Misdirected Blame

**A/N: hmm… speculations are being made, I like it! Thank you to JazmineElric for that review, which I won't speak about anymore as it's a secret. Also I feel as though not much action happened in the last chapter, so let's change that shall we?**

**Enjoy this chapter!**

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The next few days went on like the last. Ed, Al and Joseph went from lead to lead about who could be the killer. Most of the leads taken from civilians were just dead ends because one neighbor didn't like the other. Bastards. Other leads were just filled with more questions as more and more bodies showed up. Winry was trying all week to come along and help, but Ed stopped her every time. Saying it's too dangerous or she'll just get in the way. The next few minutes would be wasted in an argument between the two while Al waited for them to make up and be done with it so that they can get back to work. Once the argument was over, they would come back to the H.Q to a disturbed and disappointed Joseph waiting.

The amount of work given to the team has put a lot of stress on the team of make shift investigators, so much that Joseph didn't eve n put his hair in its usual poof, instead it was a mop of hair uncleansed for days. And his slick goatee started to take over more of his face, each individual hair different lengths.

After a week and three days of no new leads, everyone decided to take a hiatus and relax a bit, get their minds off of it. Ed and Al had been invited to have dinner with Joseph so that he can better know his partners and vice versa.

"Hey, I don't mean to be rude or anything but how did you get your eye patch?" Ed asked, placing his fork next to his plate. While waiting for the reply, he took a sip of the water he was drinking.

"Brother!" Al was about to intervene when Joseph lifted a hand to stop him. He too took a sip of his beverage, a high value wine top shelf by the looks of it.

"It's okay Alphonse. I'd be glad to answer Fullmetal's question. The truth is I got it after a conflict I had with an individual a while back, he had the intention of killing me so I gave him no different. It ended up with him dead but his assistant tried to kill me. He shot me in the eye but my comrades ended his life unlike me, who was still alive and kicking." He took another a sip of the high price wine before continuing, "After that, I decided to take a few months off, recuperating. But then some other matters called for my attention. Now, I'm taking it easy and helping you brats solve this case and catch the bad Guy." He said and propping his hands on the back of his head.

Ed shrugged off the story as false tale. He took another bit of his dinner and thought about what he has started to remember, which wasn't much to begin with, but they were his none the less. Granted they were memories that he guessed were from another 'world' as everyone kept telling him. Most other memories started to come back over night and when he asked Al about the memory, Al told him that they were from the other world, but he was close to getting his memories from this world back.

Soon, after dinner and everyone said their goodbyes, Ed was sitting at the dining table of the Winry's house and listened to the radio. They were talking about the upcoming election and who might be taking the race by storm. The election should be tomorrow so everyone at H.Q would have the day off.

The next day, Ed and Al went to the Candidate's speech to hear their final pleads for the people's vote before the actual voting happened that night. The Elrics didn't really pay attention to the other Candidates, what they were waiting for was for Richard Mulligan to take the stage and give his speech. Both knew what he was capable of and hoped that the people of Central knew a bad character when they saw one. The Elrics couldn't just run up there and accuse him of crimes that were never committed in this world. He finally took the stage for his thirty minute monologue.

"Fair citizens of this great country! I come before you today in hopes of changing this City and its inhabitants to be a better world for everyone to live in." there was lie number one, "I have heard your complaints and pleads for help and I feel awful for you suffering," Lie number two, "And I wish to do something to change all that, I realize that the position I'm and running for doesn't have much pull in the inner workings of the country, that I will only be running the military. But rest assured, there will be no acts of violence against our country If I'm elected. Most of these other Candidates are shivering in fear at the thought of a serial killer targeting them as well. I however, have the courage to continue to run for this place in the council and will do everything in my power as Military Representative to catch this monster and apprehend them."

"Folks, if there are any needs for change or demands for revenge against a rival country, I will see to it Personally that those countries pay for acting aggressive against us. I am a soldier who was bred to have the knowledge and the capabilities of running a country's military. So please, I _implore_ you, make the right decision when you go out to vote, because the wrong decision could cost you everything you love." He ended his speech with outstretched arms at the crowd. The crowd erupted in a sea of claps and most of them even took the liberty of giving him a standing ovation.

* * *

After the speeches have been given, Ed, Al, and Joseph were each appointed to a Candidate as a bodyguard until the Polls have been counted and the winner of the election announced, which wasn't for another hour. The candidates didn't do much in the sense of going outside, all of them wanted to be near a radio when the results were announced, including Richard Mulligan, who Joseph was appointed to bodyguard, since the Elrics didn't think he knew they were here. He was told a lie saying that only Joseph was looking into the murders and he was the only one in the investigation.

Ed was sitting in a lounge chair with the radio on the coffee table in between him and the candidate, whom Ed didn't bother remembering his name. The man was sipping on a cup of tea while listening to the radio's on-going songs. The results weren't due for another 45 minutes now but Ed felt like it was going to be an eternity before they got it over with. With boredom seeping in, Ed pulled out a pocket sized book he found back home and opened the book to the page he left off.

The door gave way to some knocking; the Candidate looked to Ed, "Aren't you going to answer that?" The Candidate asked, with a tone that seemed to bother Ed for some reason.

"I'm your bodyguard not your butler old man. You can answer your own damn doors." Ed said, not taking his eyes off the pages, and turned to a fresh page and continued his reading.

The man just sighed and got up to answer the door while mumbling something about today's youth and no respect for the elderly. The man was about to turn the door knob when Ed heard the loudest bang he had ever heard. Ed jolted his eyes for the book to the old man, who had a gaping hole the size of his fist through his abdomen, blood spilling over his clothes and onto the carpet of the room.

The door slowly opened to reveal a masked figure, which looked like a fox from Ed could tell, and had black fatigues and a matching trench coat. In his right hand was a shotgun, aiming right at Ed.

"Shit!" Ed yelled as he clapped his hands and made a wall of masonry and wood. He could hear the gun go off multiple times, trying to pierce its way through the make shift shield. From the sound of the gun, Ed figured that he was moving about the room while keeping up the barrage. Ed clapped again, this time aiming his hands at his barrier and created a pillar in the direction he heard the last shot. Behind his cover, Ed heard the sound of someone being slammed. He took this chance to transmute a spear from the ground and came out of his hiding to see the killer scrunched in the corner, his shotgun now on the other side of the pillar Ed made. The killer reached inside his coat and pulled out an Mp40.

'How the hell did he get one of those? That's supposed to be part of the other world!' Ed thought to himself as he took cover behind the bed that separated the two. The killer continued where he left off and continued with the on slaughter of bullets aimed at the Elric. The killer was making his way to an open window to escape by roof top.

"Oh no you don't!" Ed said, chasing after the culprit who was a good 15 yards ahead of him, but Ed's agility allowed him to catch up. Ed was closing the distance when the killer turned back around and clapped his hands and placed them on the roof he was standing on. The roof erupted in a puff of soot smoke. Ed coughed and struggled to keep his eyes open long enough to see where the bastard went, but he saw nothing.

"Brother!" Al said, catching up to Ed as he rubbed his eyes and dusted off his suit pants, "Did you get him?"

"No, he got away. The bastard's an Alchemist Al, and he also had an Mp40 from Earth, how in the hell did he get that?" Ed said walking back to the scene of the crime.

"It was Obviously Mulligan who gave him that weapon, but we can't accuse Him because we can't prove that he's from Earth." Al said, walking in step with his older brother, "The other Candidate is fine, I think he only came after the one you were guarding, Ed"

"Great, just my luck," Ed said, skulking at how fair the situation was, "for starters, we got to clean up the crime scene a bit, if the military comes into contact with the shotgun the killer left, they'll abuse it and become new leaders in military power with the research that they do on it. We can't let that happen." ED said as he took the leapt back into the battle riddled room.

"What should we say about the gaping hole in the Candidate then?" Al said, as he followed his brother into the room.

"We'll tell him he used alchemy to do it. That will do, at least they'll know about his use of the science, maybe it'll help track him down." Ed said as he slipped on his suit's coat back on and shoved the shot gun into the inside pocket to conceal it. "Get Joseph and call the police, they need to see this." He said, looking at the bullet riddled body of the man he was _supposed_ to protect. He kicked himself for not getting the door in the first place. It should have been him to take those bullets, not this man.

After the police cleaned up the mess that Ed and the killer had made, the police told the Radio station and everyone who was listening, that one of the candidates had died, so they had to have everyone vote again for the two remaining opponents, which would take place the next day after the mourning ceremony for the dead Candidate.

Al and Joseph set out for the Mourning in black attire, but Ed wanted to stay behind. He didn't want everyone to know that he was the one who couldn't do his damn job and protect anyone.

Ed was sitting on one side of the dining table while Winry sat opposite of him. She saw the distraught on his face and it pained her to see him like this.

"Ed, you know it wasn't your fault, right? You couldn't have known that it would play out like that." She said as she placed her hand on top of his for comfort, "You can't take the blame for everything, especially things that you had no control over."

"That's where you're wrong." Ed said, breaking his long streak of silence, "I could have answered that door, I could have taken those bullets for him. I could have-"

He would have continued if Winry hadn't gotten up, stood in front of him, and slapped him across the face.  
"If you were to die, there would be one more body there Ed, Don't say things like that, please Ed" Winry said, kneeling down to put her arms and bury her head in his lap. Ed could hear the soft sobs coming from the blonde who was showing these signs of weakness but still trying to comfort him.

Ed gave a small smile and placed his hands on the blonde and moved her away so that he could see her face, "Thanks… Winry. For everything"

* * *

**A/N: Yes! He finally calls her by her name! At least that's some kind of relationship development, right?**

**But anyways, I have some things to clarify:**

**I made the killer where a fox mask because the fox symbolizes cunning, agility, likeness to night, and quick thinking. If you want to know more look info on spirit animals.**

**I made the killer also use an Mp40 because the small clip of the German weapon is more fitting for that situation then something like the American equivalent Thompson.**

**Review!**


	11. Chapter 10: Rewritten History

**A/N:**

**MWAHAHAHAHA…. YES MY PRETTIES KEEP MAKING GUESSES! YOU'RE ONLY ADDING FUEL TO THE FIRE!**

***Ahem* ignore that. But hey everyone loves it right? Thanks to all ya'll (yes very country of me) for reviewing and showing how much the story means to you. Unfortunately, we are nearing the end of this story, I estimate about another four or five chapters including this one so be prepared. I might do an epilogue to get that last bit of fluff out, let me know if you want it by the last chapter!**

**Enjoy this Chapter!**

* * *

"Ladies and Gentlemen! I am happy to announce the results of the second annual election for the Military Representative." The radio talk show host said, grabbing everyone's attention across the country, waiting to see if their votes were put to good use or if it was all for not.

Ed, Al, Winry, and Joseph were no different. Al had invited Joseph for some drinks and to hear the results, and when the Radio host came back after the long pause, everyone was crowding around the radio, not wanting to miss a single detail.

"And now! Your 1824 Military Representative is…. Richard Mulligan! After a huge landslide! Now that we got these elections over with, maybe the killer will finally stop with his petty crimes and we can move on with our lives." The radio host said then later gave his signing off motto, and the radio went back to playing music.

"Yea I doubt the killer will just double over and turn himself in now, something tells me that we haven't seen the last of him." Ed said pushing off of the dining room table to take a seat in the living room.

"Agreed. For now, we must keep our eyes open for the killer and at the same time keep tabs on this Mulligan character. If what you said about him was true, then we may have a crazed genius running our military operations. I fear the worst possible outcomes." Joseph said, taking another sip of the Rockbell's rum, which Pinako pulled out just for him, "for now, let's take a few days off and see what this guy's going to do with his newly acquired power."

Ed and Al nodded in agreement at the plan. Ed went back upstairs to get some well needed rest. For the past few days, his memories started to wake him back up, and he keeps telling everyone it's right after he came out of the portal the Thule Society made to close it. Al grabbed Winry by the arm and pulled her to the other room.

"Winry, since we have the next few days off, I think we should plan a surprise party for Ed, his birthday is in six days after all." Al said, "I already have a present picked out for him, what about you? Did you get him anything?"

Winry looked flustered at the question; she got her composer back before answering, "No, I completely forgot about his birthday! Can you blame me? You guy have been gone for three years!" Winry said, throwing her arms I defense, but making sure to keep her voice to a whisper so Ed couldn't hear the conversation.

"Well you better figure out something, it would mean a lot to Ed if he were to receive a gift from you, even if he doesn't remember you yet." Al gave a mischievous grin to his sister-like friend, "I'm sure he would like you _a lot _more than he does now, might even give you a present of his own." Al said, nudging her ribs with his elbow.

"Dammit Al, when did you become so evil?" Winry said, her face becoming a noticeable shade of pink.

Al's grin grew wider, "so you admit to have feelings for him?" he said, completely ignoring the question.

"I thought I lost them after him leaving me again, but lately I've been having doubts." Winry said, looking down to the ground, trying to hide her ever growing hot face.

"Don't worry; once he gets his memories back, I'm sure he'll be really glad to be back with you." Al said, patting Winry on the back as he walked out to ask Joseph if he wanted to come to the party. Joseph just nodded and excused himself from the house, saying he has someone to meet.

* * *

During the third day of their vacation from the investigation, Ed stayed home to read some more while Al went out for more supplies and food for the week. Winry was in the workshop, again! But whenever Ed came by to see what she was working on, she would scream at him and throw a wrench at him, yelling at him to get out, that he wasn't to disturb her while she was working. So, Ed just sat at the lounge chair and pulled out the book he has been reading for a while, noticing a bit of a pattern going on in his everyday life.

Ed was on the final page of a chapter when he heard Al come back in, panting. Ed guessed that he must have ran all the way from the train station.

"Hey Al, wanting to get some exercise or something?" Ed asked, not taking his eyes off the page until the last word. When he finished the chapter, he looked at the brother. He held in one hand a portion of the groceries he was supposed to get and in the other hand was a newspaper.

When Al finally got his breath, he held the newspaper in front of him, with the title viewable, "Brother! You have to read this!" he said, getting control of his breath.

Ed took the newspaper from his brother and was shocked at what the title said.

_To war! Amestris declares war on Drachma!_

Ed continued to read the rest of the article.

_After the drachma delegations denied our request for mining rights in their country, the newly appointed Military Representative declared that we go to war for the land and minerals. Beforehand, geologists did some research of the mountain ranges to the north of us and discovered that they contained an abundance of iron veins. The growing need for steel and iron in our country has led to increased prices for the metal as well as automail parts, which require the metal to create. There are even some reports of merchants smuggling the metal from foreign countries to sell for a below average price. Now, the drachma Delegates are denying our requests for trade and requests to mine it ourselves. The country of Drachma don't have all that much need for the metal now and days as the winter weather makes it hard to mine through the frozen rock, as well as keeping equipment operating makes it almost an impossible job. The Drachma also feels that since we had caused so much grief for the country, we don't deserve any of their resources, hence why there are no official trades between our country and theirs. The first Draft if to happen tomorrow, more information will be given when it is presented to us._

Ed was stunned. He read over the article a couple more times just to have the information actually make sense. He looked to his brother, hoping that this was some kind of sick joke, but his facial expression told otherwise.

"We're being called to Headquarters right now, I came to tell you and bring you there." Al said, taking his coat from the coat hanger and continued to put it on, "they're shipping every Alchemist and able soldier to the northern most point in Amestris, it's going to be Ishval all over again."

"Yeah but for different reasons this time" Ed said, remembering the history lesson Al gave him a few days ago, he was hoping to help the memory gap some more but all it did was get Ed bored. History wasn't something he found as interesting as alchemy.

As Ed and Al were walking down the road, Winry came running out, trying to get their attention, "Ed! Whatever happens out there, whatever you might see or have to do, just make sure you come back to me safely." She said, with every bit of seriousness she had in her entire being.

Ed stared at the blonde for some time before nodding. He turned back around to continue walking down the road, to an upcoming tragedy, for both sides of the war.

* * *

"Alright you sniveling sons of bitches! I have a day and a half to whip you bastards into shape, so if any of you give me any shit or slack during this _wonderful_ training course, I'll see to it that you won't be going home anytime soon." The training marshal boomed from the top of the stage, overlooking the multiples of soldiers in their given training uniforms. All of the soldiers couldn't have been older than thirty, all seemed so young and naïve as to what they were going to face.

Ed and Al were excused from the soldier training as they were to receive training fit for alchemists. The schedule consisted of speed alchemy, where the user had to improve their activation of their alchemy and be able to dodge a given situation. Since it was known that Ed could transmute without the need of a transmutation circle, he was given much harder training than the other new alchemist that seemed to have popped up in the Elric's absence. He had to dodge or redirect projectile after projectile, wave after wave of nonstop logs and boulders to stop with alchemy, it was beginning to be tired for him, until the trainer gave him a short break. Up next was Joseph, and his training regime wasn't so different than Ed's. Ed watched as Joseph clapped once and turned a small bit of the earth to gunpowder. The powder than snaked its way around Joseph to make incantations and lines, forming a transmutation circle around him. The projectiles started to come again, however Joseph didn't move a single inch. When the first log came in, Joseph snapped his fingers and an explosion from the gunpowder around caused the log to burn and is redirected to a safer area. The explosion was so close to Joseph, anyone else would have been dead, but the flames seemed to curve around him and all that was affected was his hair at the force of the explosion.

Ed looked on in amazement as the transmutation circle that he partially sacrificed to create the explosion returned to the position that it once was before. And when the metallic spears started spewing, Joseph clapped again, this time, he transmuted a grated, metallic wall in front of the gunpowder, it then snaked into the individual holes as they began to fill back with metal. Joseph snapped his fingers again and the explosions happened again, this time the explosion came from within the wall and sent bullet-like balls in every direction, knocking away all the spears, each hitting the floor with a clank. Joseph kept this up for the entire session, not even breaking a sweat.

After Joseph had finished, Ed walked up to him to make conversation, "Hey how did you manipulate the Gunpowder like that?" He asked, taking another sip from his water bottle.

"It's not really manipulation of the gunpowder per say, but rally all I'm doing is having the gunpowder change its magnetic pull on everything and having it magnetically rise up the wall or push away from a certain part of the ground." Joseph said, dabbing a towel across his sweat less face.

Ed gave up on asking anymore questions, as it would only give him more of a headache. Ed looked on to see Al as not a part of the alchemist training, but as a part of the soldier training, since he's technically not a certified state alchemist. He could see that he was struggling with getting a wall and getting over buildings, but he excelled in the target practice after all the time they spent on earth with the American Operation training that they had to do.

Whatever may come, whatever they have to do, whether they like it or not. Whether it meant following orders or disobeying them, Ed knew he was going to make it through these hardships and make it back to Winry.

That was a promise.

* * *

**A/N:**

**This was a lot of fun to write, hopefully I explained Joseph's alchemical ability the best I can, make what you want out of it. **

**Review!**

**Slight update, today I got injured while playing soccer so I'll be on a short hiatus for recovery reasons. Main injury is my wrist so typing hurts and is almost impossible to type with only my left hand.**

**Thanks for understanding.**


	12. Chapter 11: Death Defying Combat

**A/N: I'm finally back! **

**In case you didn't see it on the update I did on the last Author's notes, I'll give you the short story:**

**Sprang my wrist, couldn't type, pain.**

**Now I'm back and I'm going to finish this story and move on to my new idea.**

**Enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

Ed and Al were woken up at 4:15 AM to board a train heading to the battlefield. The train ride would take about five hours to get there and the quarter masters didn't let them sleep an inch. Whenever they caught someone dozing off, that soldier was demanded to clean every single soldier's rifles in their cabin. Luckily for Al, he kept himself busy with taking apart his own rifle and assembling it again. Ed on the other hand was in the cabin ahead of his with all the other State Alchemist. Ed yawned while slouching in his private row. He pulled out yet another book from his pocket and began reading like he always does. Books weren't allowed in the military but Ed snuck it past customs and now he checked over his shoulder every five or so minutes. Some of the other soldiers were showing signs of panic and ready to shit themselves while others had faces that had probably already seen a dead body before, and they were ready to see more.

The new people that looked like they were about to have a seizure were the ones that were the age of nineteen or twenty years old, and the veterans were around thirty or thirty five. The entire train ride was a quiet experience, but you would occasionally hear a conversation or a sob in the corner of the cabin from a newbie.

'_You signed the waiver bud_' Ed thought to himself as he looked at his generation of soldiers in pity. Ed looked on to see Joseph looking into a small box. He couldn't see the contents of the box but Josephs face showed that of being upset. He sighed and closed the box, sitting it beside him as he began to stand up.

"Hey Joseph, where you going?" Ed asked as the man past him to go to the next cabin.

Joseph gave him a slight smile, his beard covered most of it however, he then said, "Oh I'm just going to discuss some things with an official in the next cabin. Please don't mind me." He then walked to the next cabin over, never to be seen coming back for a while.

* * *

It wasn't till the first four hours passed before Ed could hear the sounds of bombs going off in the distance. He looked outside his window to see smoke clouds rising over the mountain ridge. As the last hour to their destination draw to a close, it was very clear that the bombs weren't our own. Craters could be seen all around the tracks, varying in sizes from a size of a car to the size of four buildings. Gunshots were starting to be audible now and more explosions rattled the train so much that the conductor had to slow down a bit to avoid the possibility of tipping the entire train. Once the train came to a full stop at the improvised train station, the Commanding Officer barked out at the soldiers to take position behind cover. Ed ran out into the shear cold and saw that at the top of the ridge were Drachmann soldiers with cannons set up to point at the Amestrian troops. Ed ran toward the cover where he would meet up with Al.

"Brother! What are you doing here? You're disobeying orders coming here! You're supposed to move up with the other state alchemist and begin a frontal assault." Al said, trying to push his brother back to his squad.

"I'm not leaving you Al. if I move up your coming with me. I'd rather die here than know that you could possibly be dead." Ed said, he made a stone wall through the snow and had him and Al take cover behind it. Most other soldiers followed suit and also took cover behind the makeshift cover. The onslaught of bullets could be heard hitting the wall and bounding off. Other soldiers screamed at Ed and Al to relay information about what was going on past the wall

Al turned to Ed with the news, "They're aiming their cannons on us! They should be firing any minute now."

"Dammit, I can't see where or when the shells will be coming. We may have to move out soon!" Ed said, turning back to the other soldiers behind him

"Screw that! I'm getting back to cover. Anyone who doesn't want to die, come with me!" A young soldier said, he took some of his buddies and started coming back to man cover. But since Ed and Al were already ten feet up the hill, it left the run back completely open.

"No don't you idiot, it'll be you who dies!" Ed screamed behind him. But the soldiers paid no mind to him as they started back to their other comrades. Ed didn't look back but he could hear the gunshots from above and he could tell that they were aiming at the idiots. The bullets must have hit their mark as he heard screams of pain coming from the soldiers downhill. One cannon even went off but it didn't come to Ed and Al, but aimed at the soldiers to make sure that all of them were dead.

Ed and Al were almost clear of the ridge when they heard the cranking of gears ahead of him. He guessed that those are the cannons being redirected at them. Ed was running through scenarios of how to avoid being hit but he kept coming up blank. He was about to just run at the cannon and transmute it to not work when he saw an orange stream whizzed past Ed's cover and hit the cannon's barrel head on. The stream was able to enter the cannon and moments later it erupted in an explosion of flames, killing the operator and the loader.

"Dammit Fullmetal, to think I had to break my disguise jus to save your ass again!" Ed turned to see Joseph with a pair of white gloves, but he seemed awfully familiar to someone he probably seen before. He glanced over his face again to see that he had shaved his beard off and his hair was mopped to the side.

'Joseph?' Ed thought to himself when he had a massive head ache and a flood of memories came flooding in, from when "Joseph" had helped him stop the Thule Society, to when "Joseph came to recruit him to be a state Alchemist.

'No not Joseph but-' Ed thought to himself when he blurted out, "Colonel Mustang!" Ed said. Al looked on in happiness to see their former commander back in action.

"So you finally remember me Fullmetal. However, now is not the time family reunion. We have to stop these bastards and set up a permanent base of operations. Move up while I cover you from the cannons. Al, you watch out for other soldiers, you see any-" Mustang was about to finish when Al held up his rifle to shoot a Drachmann soldier in the chest. Apparently, he tried to get the jump on Mustang but failed.

"I shoot it, I got it. Trust me; I took plenty of lives just to survive the alternate world." Al said, reloading a new bullet into the chamber. His accuracy in the marksmen contest during training was outstanding, but he couldn't keep up the accuracy passed the second bullet so they allowed him to use a sniper rifle rather than the semi-auto rifle that was given to everyone else.

Speaking of Snipers, Hawkeye could be seen far across the ridge where she laid still on the roof of the parked train, picking off soldiers at the top without being noticed.

"Allow me to assist you in the advancement, Edward and Alphonse Elric!" The brothers turned to see the Friendly Giant they know being not so friendly as he punched alchemically transmuted rocks at his enemies, Armstrong came in a took cover with the rest of the team.

"Well let's get started shall we?" Ed said as he transmuted his traditional spear and took a pistol from one of the idiot soldier's dead body.

The group moved out of their cover and let out a barrage of bullets and alchemical attacks as they moved across the ridge to kill and destroy everything that wasn't friendly. While the enemy was focused on Ed and the others, took the opportunity to advance the other foot soldiers and some were setting up mortars to bombard the enemy reinforcements that were coming in on the other side. Ed speared an enemy and took his body to be used as a shield when another took aim at him. Before the enemy fired, he hit the ground bleeding as Al had shot him through his skull. Mustang and Armstrong could be seen taking out every cannon set up. Armstrong would take out the operators and the feeders while Mustang obliterated the cannons, making sure that they would be used again. Al set up on the only operating cannon and used his alchemy to make the suit of armor he once was attached to and gave a piece of his soul into it. Al operated the controls while the suit helped load the next shot. Al aimed the cannon back towards the now retreating army and started firing on them.

The fighting then lasted a little longer before the said that they can take a break while the foot soldiers kept advancing. Ed took another Pain pill as more Headaches came back. He started to recall the Invasion that avoided him for so long.

'_Funny, it only took conflict for me to remember more conflict_.' Ed thought to himself as he lay in his bunk, ready to get some well-deserved sleep.

In his dream, he could see that he was inside a huge cathedral, where he could see Dante, Rose, Envy, Wrath, and Alphonse; all of which were at a standoff. The next few moments were a blur, but what really struck him was when Envy showed his true form, Hohenheim's deceased son, and Ed's half- Brother. Ed was so distracted that he didn't see Envy Stab Ed, killing him. Ed opened his eyes to see that he was in front of the doors of truth with Envy and Wrath. The doors open to take back Wrath's body as well as take Envy with him. Envy disguised himself as Ed so that he could get revenge on Hohenheim for neglecting him. Ed too was sucked in, only to find him face to face with his long lost Father.

"No it can't be like this! You have to go back!" His father said, shaking Ed furiously.

The constant shaking made him finally wake up. He woke to find him sweating all over and panting.

* * *

**A/N: let's face it, you all knew Joseph was Mustang, but you have yet to figure out another thing about him *laughs maniacally***

**I may have quoted Hohenheim wrong and that entire memory could be wrong but cut me some slack. I haven't watched FMA's ending in a while, mainly because I didn't like it. Hopefully my shortened version of the recollection was okay enough. I'd like to thank Samansa-chan147 for favoriting and following the story, it means a lot, like you have no idea.**

**Review!**


	13. Chapter 12: Chilling CLimax

**A/N: Aaaanannnd procrastination comes to the best of us.**

**Enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

The rest of that day was nothing but an onslaught of killing and more killing. The air was filled with the smell of gunpowder and smoke. The deceased could be seen for miles on end, with the furthest bodies being a few yards in between. The Amestrian army had advanced so much in the past few hours, they had gone twenty miles into Drachmann territory, and no signs of surrender were shown to be coming from the central government. It had been a full day since Ed and Al had come to the front lines. The signs of a killer were apparent on their faces, having them fight throughout the night with no break till just now. They were having some free time in the temporary Base of Operations, eating and listening to the radio; Ed and Al were eating alone. Al was wearing his military clothes while Ed was wearing his new red cloak and black fatigues, like the ones he wore before he left for Earth in the first place. Granny Pinako had sewn him a new pair that would fit his grown body. Ed was enjoying the song the channel was playing when an announcement had been made by an all too familiar voice.

"My fair soldiers, those of you who are listening to this right now can have a slimmer of hope. For I, Richard Mulligan, will have this war end in the matter of hours. You see, a team of private researchers I had put together a weapon of mass destruction that will have the Drachmann government begging for mercy on their hands and knees. The weapon has been dubbed the Atomic Bomb. We have been mass producing the product in a factory that you brace soldiers have overtaken with your sheer force from the Drachmann armies. Soon, all of you will be going home free of the burden of war." The radio cut off and continued playing where it had left off.

"Brother, you don't think that that's the same invention that Alfon's from Earth created?" Al said, leaning in close so that no one else can hear.

"It has to be, we lost track of that thing when we escaped to France. The American government must have got their hands on it and weren't telling us. They were probably using it to end the war. But now it looks like Mulligan is mass producing the thing. We have to find it and get rid of it before he uses it to destroy not only the innocent people of Drachma, but everyone else he doesn't deem worthy of living." Ed said, gritting his teeth at the thought of the monstrosity that Alfons had depicted to him before his death, "how he got his hands on it himself is beyond me, but first we have to find out where the weapon is being held. He said something about a factory that we had already taken. We need a list of all factories in the Drachmann southern border as well as a way to get there unnoticed. Once we find him then we'll ask the questions, and then kick his ass." Ed said, cracking his real hand knuckles.

Ed and Al were walking around camp to find Mustang's Tent to see if they can get him to get them anywhere in the search. They come up to his tent when they heard him having a conversation with a higher up official. Outside the tent was a military vehicle parked outside with one driver sitting inside.

"I'm happy that you offered that position to me General, but I have a duty to fulfill to my men. I don't think wasting my time guarding some experimental weapon that we know nothing about is a good idea. For all we know, this could be some glorified bottle rocket that he made." Mustang could be heard from inside the tent. Ed and Al took a peek in to see Mustang behind his desk, standing. While the "General" was sitting across from him, his arms crossed with a pipe in his mouth. Smoke rings could be seen rising to the top of the tent. Ed could tell that they have been there awhile since he could practically see the smoke leave the tent.

"I understand Mustang. However, if you ever feel like you changed your mind, you know where to find us." The General said, standing up to leave the room.

"Quick! Let's sneak into the back of the car and follow him back to the factory." Al whispered to Ed, he was about to take off for the car when ED stopped him.

"Will you hold it? We don't even know if they're going to the factory or not." Ed said, with a whispered yell at his brother's thinking.

Al was about to say something when the general walked out. Ed and Al pretended to be talking about something else when the General walked up to the driver side window.

"We're going to factory next." The general said, the driver nodded and started up the car while the general went into the passenger side seat.

"Okay nevermind." Ed said, with a disappointing look on his face, almost like he couldn't believe his luck.

Ed and Al ran to the back of the car and jumped into the back as the car started lurching forward, masking their approached.

* * *

The brothers stayed in the car for what seemed like hours when they looked up they saw a military checkpoint at least two hundred feet ahead of them. Ed and Al took this opportunity to jump out of the car. They tuck and roll into the road. Luckily, the snow cushioned the fall for them and they rolled onto the side of the road. Ed and Al could see the car approach and was soon let into the facility. The brothers prone crawl to the side of the building, away from the checkpoint. Ed used his alchemy to make a hole for them to enter into the facility. Ed and Al saw lots of the soldiers from their home walking around, patrolling. The brothers run to a side entrance of the main production line and inside was nothing but two other doors.

"We don't know where the weapon is. For all we know, it could be in any of these rooms, and I'm sure as hell confident that they wouldn't have it out on display." Ed said, "I'll take the left door and you take the right. Search every room, if you don't find anything, come back and go into my door, got it?"

Al nodded and moved towards his door, Ed does the same. Ed opened his door and saw to his right a long corridor with a few doors every now and then. He walked in and moved to the first door. He walked up to the door and looked into the small window that the door had to peer in. inside the room was nothing but yellow barrels with a strange symbol Ed had never seen and the words _hazardous_ on it. Ed moved on and saw that the next room was the same as last time, and the next room had metal parts inside. Some were oval shaped, like that of a bomb shell, while others looked like they wouldn't fit on a bomb at all. Ed shrugged it off and moved on, thinking that it was leftover metal from what the factory previously made.

The corridor then opened up to a large room with an overhang on the other side and he saw Mulligan at the top, staring him down.

"Well! I was wondering when you would get here. What took you so long?" Mulligan asked sarcastically, with a grin growing on his face. His voice was different from when he gave his speeches, "I was worried you got lost along the way here. None the less, I suppose you're wondering how on earth, or whatever you call this world, did I get all the technology from my world here. It's very simple if you use your brain a little, I created another portal. Luckily for me, the requirements of high voltage lightning weren't required to open one to the other side from here. So, I made a couple of trips, did a little shopping, and met a couple of old friends." A figure walked out from behind Mulligan and was now standing next to him. It was the murderer, "you remember him right? I'm sure you do, you got along so well." Mulligan said, cupping his hands together in awe.

"Enough of this! Why are you doing all of this to my world? What? Is your world not good enough?" Ed yelled his questions, anger seeping out as he had to control himself from killing this guy.

"Sadly I was a fugitive in my world. I could never have gotten anywhere with my plans in that situation. Your world, however, gave me an opportunity to start anew and put my plans into action. You see, I believe in the famous words of a great man by the name of Darwin, I don't know if you know of him. One of his greatest quotes was during his studies of evolution, '_survival of the fittest_'. It means that those who survive are the ones who are strong enough to kill off the weak. Nations are built off the weak so that the strong may prosper. This war is a way to find those who are strong. Any who survive this war will be known as the strong and the ones who die here are known as the weak and are not wanted in this nation. Those nations that have strength should destroy those nations who are weak! I used this worlds depleting resource problem as an excuse to start this war!" Mulligan was getting an even bigger grin on his face as he fantasized about his perfect world.

"So you plan on killing off all the weak in Amestris after this?" Ed asked, clutching his fists, if he wasn't wearing gloves, his hand would have probably been bleeding from his nails digging in.

"Exactly my boy! And this invention would help me do just that. I was a part of the engineering team that was in charge of building these weapons. We had three on reserve that were going to be used to end the war. The weakest was name little boy, the second strongest was fat man, and the one you see before you," Mulligan points to the other end of the room to the bomb, "is the strongest one, we named that one _Uncle Sam_ after the figure of America. Its strength was measured at forty five kilotons, twice as large as fat man, and during my trips, I stole it. Now, enough talk, I'm sure your friend wants to play with you now, and just so you won't get any ideas," Mulligan reaches behind him and pulls someone to his side, her mouth was gagged and her hands were tied behind her back. She had blonde, long flowing hair and blue eyes that were on the verge of tears.

"Winry!" Ed screamed to her, she tried to scream back but was silenced by the cloth around her mouth.

"I knew you were here all along boy! And I had some of my men do some research on you, apparently, your good friends with her?" Mulligan asked the rhetorical question, seeing that he had Ed cornered.

Ed was about to intervene when the black figure jumped down from the overhand and pulled a pistol and knife form his cloak. Ed used his alchemy to conjure up a spear to defend himself. The hooded figure moved towards him with blinding speed, shooting off one bullet and coming in with the knife. Ed back stepped from his lunge and used his spear again to deflect the knife. The murderer then shot off the last of his bullets and pulled out a second knife to dual wield. Ed continued to side step and dodges the knives as he tried to find an opening to strike. The Murderer then made a risky lunge to Ed's left side; the knife digs into Ed's automail arm. Ed took this opportunity to strike back and stabbed his spear at the mask covering his face, hoping to knock him out or at least do some damage.

The mask was successfully knocked off and what he saw surprised him.

It was Alphonse.

Al's eyes didn't show any sign of life or emotion in them, like they were dead.

Mulligan above laughed, his voice booming through the building, "like my little surprise? I call it the death drug, a drug that nullifies any thoughts and thinking that he may do and intensifies the primal instinct to kill. Call it the temporary homunculus. I was planning to use this drug to fight off the rest of the war but we didn't know how it would work, he's the first to use the drug and it's working perfectly. The last one quit on me."

Ed didn't hear anything that Mulligan was saying; he just looked at his brother in disbelief. Ed tried to make some coherent thought or at least move but his brain went numb. He saw Al stand back up and move back towards him, the other knife in hand.

Ed didn't do anything; he just took the knife with open arms. It dug into his right abdomen and he could feel a surge of pain hit him. But it wasn't from the knife impalement.

It was a headache.

In the brief time that he felt the headaches again, a flood of memories came rushing back to him form when he performed the human transmutation to when he sacrificed himself to save Al. he remembered everyone. Hawkeye, Hayfinally feel him having control over his muscles again. He also felt the pain of the knife but ignored it. Instead, he used his automail elbow to slam down on the back of Al's head, knocking him out.

Ed then pulled out the knife. He looked up to see that Winry was cut loose but Mulligan was holding her hand above a button. He panted nonstop as he walked towards him.

"I don't think so kid, if I die, I'm bringing everyone here down with me." Mulligan said as he slammed Winry's hand on the button, "If this lady lifts here hand off of this button, the bomb will go off, not like it matters anyway, it'll go off in thirty minutes anyway." Mulligan let go of Winry and started for the exit.

"Wait! I'm… not… done… with you… Mulligan." Ed said, panting as he made his way up the stairs to Mulligan and Winry. He clapped his hands together and used his alchemy to seal off Mulligan's escape route. He got up to Winry and used his alchemy on the table that the button was stationed on to deconstruct the button and its wires to its basic components.

"Get… out… of here… Winry… take Al… with you…" Ed said, standing next to her but not making eye contact, instead keeping his focus on Mulligan so he won't go anywhere.

"What about you Ed?" Winry asked, a sense of worry enveloping her as she saw how much pain Ed must be in.

"I… have… to… end this… and defuse… the bomb…" Ed said in between his heavy breathing. The pain wasn't getting any easier to deal with and fatigue was starting to kick in.

Winry nodded and went down the stairs to pick up Al, "Don't die Ed!" Winry said as she hoisted Al up on one shoulder.

With the strength he mustered up he let out a yell to get his point across, "I don't plan to!" Ed said, holding his arm to his hip to stop the rest of the bleeding.

Winry made it outside to hear sirens wailing and soldiers frantically running everywhere as they tried to find a way to escape. Winry spotted a parked jeep and made her way to it. She put Al in the back and hotwired the car to start. She started the car and rammed her way through the security checkpoint and slammed her foot down on the gas. She counted in her head every five minutes and didn't let up on the gas.

There was ten minutes left when she heard Al groan and sit up right.

"Winry? Where are we? Where's Ed?" he asked as he looked around for his older brother.

"We're escaping the facility. Ed stayed behind to stop Mulligan and Defuse the Atomic Bomb." Winry yelled back to him, trying to make her voice clear over the sound of the engine.

She looked back for a quick second to see Al had a face of terror on him, "Is he crazy?! There's no way to defuse an atomic bomb once it's been activated! It said so in Alfons' notes that once the reaction begins there's no stopping it!" Al said as he started to pull his hair out.

Winry stopped the car in the middle of the road, "WHAT?" she yelled back at him, disbelief written as plain as day.

"How much time has passed since then?" Al said as he frantically looked back at the facility and back to Winry.

Winry went back in her head to recount the time that past, "About another-" she started when a white flash came from the facility and a fiery cloud build up into the sky. Seconds later, the car was hit with the shockwave of the explosion, causing it to roll and tumble through the snow, with its passengers still inside.

* * *

**A/N: wooh that was a long chapter!**

**I'd like to thank BloodOfRa for favoriting and following the story as well as Yorokobi Asahi for following the story. Next chapter is the last one. Let me know if you want to see an epilogue afterwards for some more story plot and a nice happy, fluff filled, ending.**

**Review!**


	14. Chapter 13: The End

**A/N: This is it. The final chapter. Been a good run have to admit but all good things must come to an end.****Thank yous at the end of the chapter so wait till then**

**Enjoy the ending!**

* * *

Winry awoken to see glass across the floor. But what was apparent to her as the floor in her perspective was actually the roof of the car. The air was filled with smog, she could see out the broken windshield to see flames dancing on the snow. She looked back to see Al coughing. She saw his right leg was point in a direction it shouldn't be. She dug around the car and positioned herself to kick open her side door. She gave it a good kick but the door came off with minimal effort. Once out of the car, she looked around to see that the smog was all around them, not from the car but the explosion. She looked up to see the clouds had covered the sun's setting sky with dark, rolling clouds. She decided to help Alphonse out his side door. Surprisingly, there was no side door to pry away. She looked around and found the door couple of feet from their vehicle. She reached in and grabbed Al by the arm. As she was pulling she heard him wincing in pain.

"Sorry Al, I know it must hurt a lot." Winry said apologetically, she got him out and supported him with his arm around her shoulders.

"Yea I think it might be broken." Al said with pain and laughter painted across his face, the pain causing the laughter.

"We should get to the main road and try and make our way back to base." Al said as he motioned to the direction of the nearest post. Winry nodded and made their way to the road to start their walk back.

After ten minutes of walking in the cold, Winry saw military convoys making its way to the explosion site. The last convoy stopped and a single soldier jumped out.

"Hey, you guys need a ride back?" the lone soldier said as he maneuvered his way into the fold to help Al ease the pain, "We're going their right now so you might need to wait in the truck until we're done."

"What are you guys going to look for?" Winry asked as she helps Al into the open seat and she got into the seat opposite of him.

"Whatever's left." The soldier said with a grim expression, not making eye contact but instead staring down to the ground.

"That doesn't sound promising." Al said, a sense of worry washing over as tends to his leg.

'_Doesn't die Ed_!' she remembered screaming to the Elric, '_I don't plan to!_' was his response to her. A chilling thought crept into her mind at the statement.

Not many do.

* * *

1 hour earlier…

Ed looked at Mulligan while clapping his hands. He transmuted his automail arm to a sharp point.

"Now, where… were we?" he heaved out the words, the pain becoming harder to breathe.

Mulligan let out a maniacal laugh, "Look at you boy! How do you plan to stop me is you can't even make a complete sentence without huffing like a mutt?" Mulligan asked motioning to Ed's condition.

Ed looked up and gave a slight grin, "I was hoping you might ask something like that." He said. Ed used his alchemy and placed his hands on his injury. Instead of the normal blue lightning that came from alchemy, red was its replacement. Ed gritted his teeth at the increased pain of the transmutation. When the lightning subsided, Ed stood up straight and gave Mulligan a toothy smile.

"What the hell did you do?" Mulligan asked in bewilderment.

"I used my soul as a catalyst to speed up the healing process. It costs me a bit of my life span as I had to use my soul as a philosopher's stone, but it's worth it if it means stopping you," he took an offensive stance as he prepared to attack, "Now, if I remember correctly, I was just about to kick your ass."

Mulligan cracked his neck and gave a smile, "watch what you say punk." He said as he took a boxers stance.

Mulligan was the first to move, he closed the space between him and Ed with speed Ed wasn't expecting. He hit Ed with a punch to the gut, leaving him gasping for air, but he wasn't done there. Mulligan let out a barrage of punches to his gut, not letting up. He then swept Ed's legs out from under him and slammed him with his elbow. Ed hit the ground, hard. He was still gasping for air while at the same time, trying to refocus his eyes. Mulligan was looming over him with his leg on Ed's chest.

"I took five years of boxing kid, don't take me lightly. I may prefer suits but I can still kick ass." Mulligan said as he pushed his foot down on Ed's chest.

Mulligan had purposefully placed his foot on Ed's center of gravity, restricting him from trying to lift him up. Ed couldn't get his automail knife in a good position as Mulligan had his other foot on his arm.

_'__Dammit Elric, think! You need to get him off you and fast.'_ His inner fighter was telling him.

Ed looked around for anything to use when he remembered the other knife Al had left in his automail shoulder. With his free hand, he pulled the knife out and stabbed Mulligan in the shin, splitting it in half. Mulligan screamed in pain as he retreated away and pulled the knife out. He was in pain but not stopped.

'He's pissed' Ed thought to himself as he got back up.

Mulligan then charged back at Ed, but his rage had made him loose focus. Ed took this opportunity and dodged the right hook coming right at him. He crouched down and stabbed Mulligan in the Left thigh and made a deep cut up his chest. Mulligan used his left hand to try and Grab Ed's hand but he saw it coming and stabbed his palm with the automail knife.

Mulligan took a few steps back to wallow in his pain and Ed ran in to give the final blow, a knife through the throat. Mulligan coughed some blood and the weight of his body gave way and he fell to the ground, dead.

"Good riddance." Ed spat at the dead foe, "Rest in peace, asshole." Ed was starting to feel the fatigue from earlier sink in and he could feel a couple of bruises surfacing. He also felt around and found out he had two broken ribs, but he can think about it later. A good twenty minutes past from the short fight and Ed was searching for a way to escape the bomb. He ran outside to see that all the soldiers had taken all of the vehicles.

'Not like it mattered, I can't get away from the blast in time.' He thought to himself, 'Aargh! Think Elric! There had to be some reason Mulligan activated the bomb and still stuck around, he had to have some way to escape the blast.'

'Unless he was suicidal' Ed thought to himself but shook it off, 'he still had plans for afterward so I don't think he was.'

Ed ran through the other rooms he had passed on the way outside but there was nothing. He made it back to Mulligan's body and he was running out of options.

Ed was starting to get frustrated, "DAMMIT ALL!" He screamed, getting more and more pissed.

* * *

Six hours later…

Winry and Al had changed into biohazard suits and Al had his leg treated by field medics. They supplied him with a set of crutches. The two were waiting at the edge of the mile wide crater that was once the facility. Soldiers all wearing biohazard suits scrounged around for any signs of life or people, but it was becoming apparent that they weren't getting any leads.

Winry looked down the crated in depression as thoughts of the worst swam in the sea of thoughts her brain was making. Al gave a slight smile to try and cheer up his friend.

"Don't worry; I'm sure he's fine. For all we know, he's somewhere out there complaining about us not looking out there for him." Al forced his smile onto Winry; she just looked up and gave a slight smile back, but went back to staring down the crater, with depression sinking back in.

Fifteen minutes of silence had passed before a soldier had walked up to the two.

"Sorry to disturb you, but does belong to him?" The soldier asked, holding out a extremely torn up cloth, It was hard to identify until Winry caught a sliver of red on the cloth.

It was Ed's cloak.

Winry took the cloth from the soldier and held it in her hands. She laid her head in the cloth and started to cry, her tears weren't making it out the masked she was wearing. Al placed a hand on her shoulder as he looked back at the soldier.

"We're still looking; we won't stop till we identify a body." The soldier saluted and went back to work.

Al and Winry felt the ground rumbling and an eruption of blue lightning shot across the crater, connecting with everything inside. An explosion of material came from the source and a smoke cloud enveloped the area. A voice could be heard booming through the smoke.

"GOD DAMMIT! YOU GUYS ARE THE WORST WITH SEARCH AND RESCUES!" Ed's voice was projected from the hole made from the explosion. "SERIOUSLY! I FIND MY LAST REMAINING REFUGE IN THIS BUNKER AND YOU DON'T EVEN TRY TO LOOK?!"

"Uhh…" Al started to say when Winry took off down the slope. Ed stopped his ranting to see the blonde running at Mach speeds. She practically tackles Ed to the floor.

Ed shoves Winry off of him and gets back up, "Geez Winry, what the hell was th-" Winry cut him off mid-sentence by planting her lips on his. Naturally, this threw Ed off guard and when they parted, Ed's face was a bright red.

"W-what was _that_ for?" Ed stutters out, trying to regain his composure after the brace action.

Winry only gives him smile, "Happy Birthday Ed." She says, a single tear rolling down her cheek.

"O-oh yea. Thanks Winry." Ed said, coughing into his hand, "But wait, why the hell did you have to do that?"

"Do I have to say it out loud you idiot?" Winry asked, her face getting agitated at Ed's denseness.

"Well and Explanation would be nice." Ed said, getting pisssed off at Winry's remark.

"Because I love you Ed." Winry said, trying to hide her face from the growing blush on her face.

Ed was about to respond when a group of soldiers from all around swarmed him. Some wanted to congratulate him, some wanted to thank him, and others wanted to yell at him for almost killing them in the explosion. Ed lost sight of Winry through the crowd but he didn't mind, there's always later.

Winry was in the back, laughing at Ed's misfortune. She walked back up the slope to help Al meet his brother.

Ed looked up to see Winry and Al walking down together, Al being a bit beaten up but back to normal. He smiled as he diverted his gaze back to his childhood friend who just told him that she love him.

'_I love you too Winry' _Ed thought to himself, as he went back to answer the crowding people's questions.

* * *

**A/N:**

**AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH. I didn't know any way else to get that confession out, it was the best I could do. But anyways, I'm going to be listing off everyone that has favorited And/or followed the story here:**

**BloodOfRa **

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**Words cannot describe how much you guys have influenced me, helped me, and motivated me to see this through and have an ending for it. If I had to say what was the toughest part about writing my first Fanfic is figuring out how to end it and still keep everyone happy. But you guys have really given me the confidence in my plot and writing and thanking you right now is still not enough. **

**Rest assured that this isn't the end of my Fanfic days. Once summer starts, I'll be starting an Attack on Titan Fanfic and I hope some of you will read that too. Now, it's 1 in the morning and I am tired. And please , by all means, if you didn't think there was enough fluff in this then I'll be happy to write an Epilogue to this story with more fluff then just Ed and Winry fluff ****_*wink*_****. And with that, **

**The end!**

**Review!**


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